Silver, Black, and Gold
by B1ue Ange1s
Summary: When one needs a glimpse of power look no further than Dragon Slayer Ornstein. He has seen wars with dragons, demons, and darkness. But what happens when all that time fighting leads to nothing. The fire still fades no matter how bravely he and his men may fight. But when he chooses to leave, opportunity will rise what would he find, fellow knights? A strange new world? Love?
1. Hell-to-Hell

I do not own Claymore or Dark Souls even though a enjoy both.

"Speech"

' _Thoughts'_

" **Yoma or yoki charged claymore speech"**

' _ **Yoma or yoki charged claymore thoughts'**_

 **Chapter 1: Hell-to-Hell**

 **The Journal of a Dragon Slayer**

Everything in life happens too fast when one truly thinks about it.

The old and wise know this best, life is almost like that of a fire, eventually it will only be embers and ash that remain. It does not matter if the fire is nothing more than a minuscule flame that was born of a spark, or a great inferno brought on by dragon fire. All flames will fade, how I wish my own life could've been so sweet.

From the moment I emerged from the fire that gave birth to Lords such as Gwyn, Nito, and the Witch of Izalith something set me apart, but what it was I never knew exactly.

There were the first years in which the three Lords would talk about ridding the earth of the dragons that ruled it, and as I listened to them talk and argue about how to do this, or when to do this, it never really occurred to me the scale of what they were about to do, what I was going to do.

Next came the rigorous training that would be required if we were to have any chance in the in the coming war. It was here that I discovered that I had a natural talent for both lightning and anything with a blade, especially spears.

Here I quickly rose among my fellow silver knights and became one of, if not the most powerful in the entire the army aside from Gwyn and his son. Although when I think on it Artorias was always praised as my rival, and I'm perfectly comfortable with the comparison between the two of us. He was always the stronger one among us, seeing as how he was able to leap just as high as I could all while wielding a greatsword and shield, but I was perfectly fine with being the faster of the two. What good was a sword if you could not strike your opponent?

It is moments like that one, in which I find the most joy remembering. Two knights excited to go into battle with their king, their prince, and their brothers in arms.

Unfortunately those would be fleeting memories once the real fighting was soon to come.

And indeed it did come. On the fateful day, that day when Gwyn, and his army marched forward to meet the dragons in battle surrounded by the mountain sized Arch-trees that touched the clouds above the fog. It was here that I had my first taste of battle; oh how I remember how sweet it tasted in my mouth.

When the first volley of sunlight spears were sent out and the first few dragons fell, I can't even begin to tell of how satisfying it was to see one fall at our feet, and hear the cheers of triumph that the other knights shouted with all their hearts believing we would win the war quickly. However it then became apparent to us when more of the damned things appeared out of the fog that we knew we were in for a very, very long, arduous, and brutal war.

And indeed we were, for every dragon that fell to my fellow knights, the dragons killed at least a hundred of them, if luck was on our side that day. However as the fighting continued and I fought tooth and nail for my Lord, the son of Gwyn took a special notice of me, I was one of the very few knights within the hundreds of thousands that he respected. And this came to me as a tremendous shock, but what he proposed and why he was so eager to propose it left me speechless.

He had seen me in battle, and not while I threw lightning at a distance, no he had seen one of my more courageous moments. One in which I had done something incredibly stupid during one of the battles I had been in, but it had earned me his attention nonetheless.

The event was during one of the earlier battles against out stone-like foes I was leading the charge sending bolts of fury into the sky along with the others trying to strike what I could, but a shadow caught my eye at one point during the fighting.

Looking upwards towards it while most knights were concerned with the dragons in front of them, I noticed this one that had decided to come from above. I made my move as the dragon performed a pass at my comrades and an opportunity to kill it presented itself to me.

I saw a single horn that hung lower than the others and quickly going to seize this chance I planted my shield into the dragon's bone, of course it did not even feel a disturbance as I crawled up the horn with my short sword and my spear, but what came next I was going to make sure the bastard definitely felt. As I made way to the top of the beast's head I noticed just how high it had flown, meaning if I were to strike it down at that moment I surly would've perished with it.

So there I sat among the clouds above the entire war that was being raged by our king, now most looking back would have most likely been in shock or paralyzed with fear. Yet there I sat wondering if I'd be able to make a difference with a single dragon, would I truly help in this war or be one of its victims forgotten by time.

My question was answered as I plunged my spear under the beast's scales and pushed the blade through its brain, slaying it before it could singe another one of my fellow silver knights. And with that we fell the dragon already dead beneath me, and myself holding onto my weapon for dear life bracing for the impact that was to come.

But when the smoke cleared I calmed my breathing, and heard my comrades' shouts and cheers of victory at the tops of their lungs.

And that was only the beginning of my dragon-killing career. The son of Gwyn took me in under his tutelage between the moments of battle, victory, and loss. And with a bit of time, maybe a decade or two, I became almost unmatched in my skill with lightning and spears.

Yet there was something off the entire time I learned from him, he always spoke of fighting honorably, weapons tested against weapon, my spear against dragon fire and claw, it was as if he held no love from his own father who used his power of the sun to strike from a distance. That disturbed me greatly though I never spoke of it.

And after the war became more and more hopeless for the dragons with the three Lords fighting with their full might something happened that shook Gwyn's entire army to its core. His son left, and joined the very beasts that we had fought for so long. Just thinking of it, of him makes me completely furious, even to this day, but back then all I could do was translate that fury onto the battlefield.

It was here that with more battles and even greater body count I captured the attention of my king. Who gave me a task that I should not have accepted so quickly, I was to hunt down and kill the traitor and bring his weapon back as proof of my kill. But I would be given new armor and weapons that my king swore could rival those of his son's. And as added assurance that I would be victorious against his son, my king even granted me a portion of his own soul in order to increase the power of my own.

Everyone surly thought that I wouldn't even have to use my full power for the battle.

My how they were wrong.

 **Flashback**

I stood in front of him my golden armor shined brilliantly in the flashes of lightning that occurred from both the storm and the battlefield off in the distance while my own lightning surged around the blade of my spear. "Why?" I asked.

He looked at me and said nothing for what seemed like an eternity, and then he looked to the battle as a flash of fire covered a huge portion of it. "Because I wish for this to go on."

This hit me like the hammer of our giant blacksmith. "To go on? Have you gone mad!? This war is so close to truly ending, and you wish for more! Your knights are dying because they followed you and your father, they followed because they looked up to you for guidance, for hope! They trusted you and you slaughtered them and for what! A chance for a proper duel, a battle with your father, what is the reason you betrayed us?!" I yelled in fury with even more lightning covering my entire spear and even my armor.

Yet he still stood there before removing his swordspear from his back and pointing it directly at me, "I wanted to fight weapon tested against weapon, yet all the others besides yourself and Artorias fight from the distance like cowards, using things other than there own skill to kill creatures that only can use their own strength to fight. That is why I left not for some absurd grudge against my father, though I still will think of him as nothing more than a coward for the way he fights. I left because I would rather fight by those who conduct battle properly rather than those who spawned from the fire."

At this I snapped, within the blink of an eye our weapons had clashed neither one of us bothering to unleash the lightning that had been build up as the other was totally immune to it. It was merely skill vs. skill for this battle.

He broke away first and swept at my legs trying to cut me down at the ankles, I avoided and swung my spear in a small vertical arch trying to cut away at his shoulder. Only for him to block with his own weapon as we were once again locked in a contest of strength, however I would not be overpowered by him and attempted to push back and force him to falter a bit and hopefully be able to land a thrust on his torso.

And for the most part it appeared to have worked, but he was able to use my over aggressiveness to his advantage and slash at my side landing a shallow cut while he dodged and was left unmarked by my blade.

"You forget who taught you Ornstein, your form was almost flawless, almost." Forgetting the pain I spin the spear around into a reverse grip and make an attempt at his guts. He dodges and goes above me to try and decapitate me with his blade's longer edge. But I wasn't one to die so easily.

I parried his weapon with my own cross like guard which had left him open, hearing him grunt in pain as I landed a perfect counter to his liver, made me dawn a smile on my face as I was savoring the moment, for once in my life.

It happened to be the wrong time to savor though as he grabbed onto the hilt just below the cross shaped guard and swung his weapon at my shocked form and slashed me from shoulder to stomach, although thankfully it was quiet shallow.

So needing some breathing room I quickly grabbed onto my weapon with both hands before kicking my former teacher in the teeth with my boot. I was granted the much needed space, however I knew I was not down with this fight, though I managed to land a critical blow to him, the son of Gwyn will not go down so easily.

We then circle each other trying to catch sight of an opening in the other's defense. However he stopped abruptly and charged in, and not one to leave this opportunity in the air I met him as he went low and I went high.

Both blades met their mark as he scratched my armor and I sliced some of his precious silver hair. We then immediately turn back and then begin a clash of blades each slash or thrust that was blocked be the other created sparks that flew into the air illuminating the darkened skies of our arena.

This went on for a few moments until I blocked one attack too many and had my guard broken and felt his spear run through me, I could feel every grove and jagged edge of the weapon designed for killing dragons. The only problem with that was the jagged blade wasn't supposed to be that way, it was to be a smooth strike in order to get the hearts or heads of the beasts. It then dawned to me, he redesigned it to kill us, to kill his own kind.

Couching up blood into my helm I dropped to my knees as he ripped his blade out of me, I then fell and had to hold myself up with my hands. All the while he casually walked around me and was about to finish me off.

He didn't know that I wasn't done just yet, clutching the fist that wasn't holding my rapidly bleeding wound I channeled my power into it and prepared to unleash my wrath.

"This could've ended better for you Ornstein, you could've joined me. Think about what could've been. But alas now it seems as though I will have no more worthy opponents besides your friend Artorias to do battle with now. A pity truly, that I will be the one to send our kind back to ashes and not the dragons. But another thing that leave me curious is this, what will you do when this war ends? What will happen when there is no longer a reason for knights?" He finishes lifting his blade up to spear me again.

And that is when I struck, releasing the power I had been building outwards I had used one of the few non-lightning miracles I knew, Wrath of the gods.

Pushed back with the force of great hammer he was launched to the ground and left open for me. Picking my self up from the ground I leapt into the air with all the strength left in me and brought my spear down towards his head in an attempt to end him once and for all.

However it seemed as if his new allies were not quiet ready for him to die just yet. As I was no more than body length away from ending the treacherous son of my king a dragon of all things knocked me away with its tail sending me crashing into the dirt.

Looking up grunting in pain and holding my wound I saw the scaled and feathered beast that now held a look of hatred on it face, perhaps it knew how many of its kind I've already killed, or maybe it was wondering how many more I'd kill. Either way I saw the dragon lean down as the now standing prince climbed onto its neck and gave me one last look.

"I must say for you to learn new things in order to just fight me, I should be flattered at that, but I looks like neither of us shall die today, for it appears that Stormdrake will not let you kill me, nor will I let him kill you. Till our next duel Ornstein, I shall wait for you, when the bell tolls." He says to me before flying off on his new pet.

It was here that I finally had time to somewhat heal myself, I performed a healing miracle that closed my wound, but I knew I had to get back to my king soon and tell him of what I had heard and seen.

 **Flashback end**

And although Gwyn was furious to learn of his son's new look on life the reports of telling of the tale in which I had injured him quickly became popular talk around the fires where men stood sharpening their weapons or eating their meals. So much so that it motivated Artorias to become somewhat of a reckless risk taker, but he earned his own set of armor though it was lighter than mine, I think the color blue was born to fit Artorias and his greatsword now rivals my own spear in numbers of dragons that have fallen to it.

And yet I hold the title of Dragon Slayer a point that has made him glare more than once.

My rival is still as close as ever to catching up, yet still I was ahead even if it only by the tiniest of margins.

But deep down I know that their praise and efforts were not merited. I still knew that I had been beaten that day; he was in much better health than I when his dragon arrived, if anything he would've dodged and ended me then and there.

It is something I'm somewhat glad for, that dragon unintentionally saving me that day. Though I would gladly kill it rather than repay the debt it unknowingly created.

Eventually though we all reached that glorious day in which the war ended. Which I was ecstatic to hear though I found thrill and fame from the battlefield I would rather see times of prosperity for my brother in arms, it was better than watching them perish in the flames.

And then there was his question, what will happen to knights such as Artorias and myself? Will we be reduced to simple guards for the king, or will another conflict arise.

I dreaded the thought of a war great enough to call on my services again.

Now I truly do not know how long it had been since the war, but the capitol of Gwyn's kingdom stood tall, Anor Londo.

It was here that I watched peace and prosperity rein throughout the centuries I watched as Gwyn had two more children, I stood proud as Gwyn chose me to lead his Four Knights and smiled when I saw Artorias meet Ciaran for the first time, and then promptly blush a brighter red than the sunrise. I could tell that the proud Wolf Knight had already become smitten with the small assassin of our group.

But as all thing must end so did the era of peace, the first flame was fading.

With that rumor spreading among the capitol panic soon spread through out the ranks of the gods that were there, and when news of Izalith came to us, the matter only became worse.

Though I understand her intentions were good we now have a new war to fight, against monster and demons rather than dragons.

I can still recall the horrors that Izalith had become, what those horrors had done to the people that lived around them, and what happened to those that fought against them.

Now a new war had spawned, one in which we faced the false flames of chaos. But in the back of my mind I heard my teacher's voice again asking me simply, "Where would you be without war?" And it was a question I had no answer to.

And to make matters worse that war turned into a two way front when word of a strange darkness spreading from Oolacile. However it later became well known to us as The Abyss.

Just speaking that name brings all the painful memories I associate with it, ones I wish to forget, but for the sake of my brother in all but blood I will remember as much as I can. I will remember him, the knight who earned the title Abysswalker rather than the shell Ciaran claimed to have seen, howling in pain. Gods….I know I could have…should have done more for him. But now it's too late.

Now that I think of him, I can still remember the good times we shared. Artorias and I were still fighting even after the dragon war, we trained, taught, ate, talked, and fought together and my heart sinks after learning he was consumed by the Abyss, and here I stand unharmed, untouched simply because I was deemed, "too important to send" by those gods that sit there and do nothing but talk.

They just want someone to protect their own hides, when the monsters come knocking at our doors. And I know they will, eventually, for the flame grew weaker with every passing day in Anor Londo.

Then at last came the day my Lord went to rekindle the flame himself, it was on this day that I began recalling my fondest memories, times when Artorias and Ciaran would flirt and watching them grow closer together, it truly was something special to see true love in person. I can only imagine the feeling. And I prayed that those moments could happen again.

I recall times when Gough would make carvings for the children around the capitol, I never understood just how the largest among us could be the most gentle. It's something I wish I could've been when telling so many wives that their husbands had perished, or informing fathers and mothers that their children who joined the ranks of silver, didn't make it home.

No sometimes I wish I could've been a lot like my blind friend, even though I had the best intentions I often came across as very blunt in my words.

Being among those who I cared for and served, those are the moments I would not trade for anything that the world has to offer.

Years passed after Gwyn left to sacrifice himself, and even though the fire lived on the monsters and demons we fought kept coming closer with every day.

And I knew at this point there was not much else I could do, Gwyndolin was not interested in battle or the strategies that came with it, and yet he was the one to take charge of Anor Londo.

And as much as I hate to admit it he was able to keep the peace for some time, but like always things go from good, to bad, and then to worse. This came when the gods left the capitol leaving only, the executioner, the Darkmoon, and myself along with a small army of silver knights to guard the capitol and an illusion of the princess. Thinking on that now I can see why they left, but still to know that the one you were to guard was no more than an illusion, it both sickened and pained me.

Pained because all those that had left and gave up hope as soon as a situation turned bleak, and I was disgusted at the same thought. How many knights had perished in our efforts against the demons of Izalith, or the darkness of the Abyss, how many lives would it take to satisfy those ungrateful bastards I once called gods, to think that they would turn and run so quickly, so easily.

Perhaps my teacher was right to abandon us, maybe deep down we were all cowards the entire time?

It was here that I made my mind, here that made me stop and put my foot down, I was going to leave myself, if not to find where the others had gone, or perhaps find my old teacher. I did not know what I was to do, but all I knew was that there was still something out there for me, something that beckoned me forward. I was determined to find it and try and make something of what little time the Age of Fire had left. I would not run like the others I would find a way to do good in the time that remained.

Or at least repay the debs of the many who had perished under my command, in some way.

And so I left, I hear that Gwyndolin actually made an illusion of me to guard the palace in my place, though it would be weaker perhaps he would find a suitable partner for my copy.

I find it somewhat tragic, an image guarding another image, there really was a sense of irony in there. The illusion of a princess who fled her country, being guarded by an illusion of the one who swore to protect her, really there had to be some kind of joke there.

But after my departure from the capitol I knew not what I would seek, there was however a few things I would like

When I left I made my way around the whole of Lordran I came across rumors of those I thought I'd never see again, knights that traveled with Gwyn to the first flame.

It took a bit of time and a good amount of bloodshed, but I was able to find the first among the few who escaped.

At first I found him sitting against a wall alone, in his now blackened armor with the wings of his helm now melted and burnt forming horns. In his right hand he held a greatsword and in his left a shield larger than the standard silver knight shields.

He then looked up to me as he heard my armor rustle as I made my approach. I heard a gasp from him as he stood before bowing to me as a sign of respect. I'd asked him where he had been and the knight who introduced himself as Sebastian told me of the tale that lead to Gwyn's demise at the first flame.

It occurred to me that he said there were others like him, and if what he told me was correct then there was the possibility that there maybe five others like him, five other knights scorched by the first flame and scalded black. Perhaps I could use the company Sebastian was rather quite, and was still quite adamant on seeing me as his superior, but hopefully with the others he will open up a bit. My time with Artorias, Ciaran, and Gough had made me feel a bit more compassion towards my knights, seeing them as more than just simple soldiers under my command and rather as fellow warriors fighting for the same cause.

And so we left together, and fought together all the while trying to make our way to other knights lost in their fight against the dark.

And so we did find them, though it was not without some challenge in the form of demons and crazed hallows that ran about the land, my how the world had fallen.

And by the time we did find them, they began to talk a bit more around each other and myself.

There was of course Sebastian who was rather lax in his attitude towards the other knights, he was one of the older knights, who had been alive and had seen war during the Age of Ancients. He was rather fond of his greatsword as it was the blade that saved his life from one particularly aggressive demon. Other than that he was a man that was most of the time reserved in his thoughts, answering questions with one-word answers or nods of the head.

Next was a knight who wielded the Black Knight Glaive we had found in the Tomb of the Giants just past a skeleton beast, he is quite the talkative knight named Reden. He was quite happy to see both his fellow first flame survivor, and of course his captain. This knight was almost the polar opposite of Sebastian, outspoken, very loud at the worst of times, and would rather carry on a conversation about anything then walk in silence. He had shown off his skill with the glaive in combat while traveling to another knight against a Kappa demon. And that was quite the show, because of instead having the assistance of Sebastian and myself he said it was a chance for him to prove that he would not be dead weight to us and fought the weapon wielding monster head on. And was never even scratched by the beast, that was quite amusing seeing a knight so effortlessly defeat a demon.

Now with two others under my command I asked where the others would be and after both of them racking their brains for answers we made off to find the remaining four.

I'll just skip the trivial details and tell more about the knights themselves.

Our next addition to the small party was a knight we had found in The Catacombs, the wielder of the Black Knight Greataxe, Meinen.

Meinen as a person though was something that struck a familiar spot within my memories, he fought with a total battle lust within him that would make Smough proud, and had the stubbornness of Havel, which is where his strength over agility tactic of fighting came into play He was never one to try and maneuver himself out of harms way, rather preferring to stay in the heat of battle and cut down his foes with his mighty axe.. But don't that style fool you he is still faster than most knights will ever be, even if that speed was used to enter the guard of his adversary. And as for his personality off the field, he can be a bit agitating at times, but it is in good teasing fun rather than true mockery.

Next we acquired the skills of one who used both a greatbow and sword. He was persistent on ending his foes with a single greatarrow and if the enemy was able to close the distance, his blade was sharpened to a point of near perfection.

It was odd really finding a knight that behaved like this one did on and off the battlefield. Victor, as he was called, feels the need to gather his arrows after every shot preferring to conserve the small amount of greatarrows that he had left on his person, but on the other hand he also finds the time to endlessly sharpen and polish both his sword and shield.

When Sebastian asked him as to why, Victor only said this, "When the time comes that I find an enemy that can deflect, dodge, or simply ignore my arrows I would not want to disappoint them with a dull or dirty blade."

Unfortunately thought not all the knights we found were as…sane as these four were, rather they had become hallow when we found them, void of feeling, and reason. I could tell it was painful for theses four to put down their brothers who had survived the first flame. But it had to be done, as their captain I would never forgive myself if I allowed them to simply go on living like that. If one could even call that loathsome existence living, gods above I could never even imagine a fate such as that.

And that is where we come today; perhaps it was good to take a second look at events that have occurred over my ever-increasing existence. Maybe I could find insight as to what may occur next in my life.

 **Journal End**

This is where Ornstein closes the small book he had in his hands before putting it away in his bottomless box. Looking up from his own life story he sees the four remaining black knights he now has under his command. There was Sebastian sitting quietly while leaning against his greatsword which he had planted in the ground for make shift support with his shield also working as somewhat of a kickstand. At the moment he had his helmet off and had it resting under his shield. Sebastian had the look of a hardened war vet, which he undoubtedly was, but the scar running down the entire right side of his face from ear to jaw only proves the fact. As for the rest of his physical appearance the knight had short somewhat spiky hair blacker than night and eyes of a dark luminous orange, which only was enhanced by the small, fire that warmed them during the night. And his skin was tanned surprisingly since he spent most of the day wearing his helm.

Near by were Reden and Victor both of them checking on their weapons and like Sebastian had also removed their helms since they had made camp for the night. Reden the shorter of the two had neck length light brown hair that seemed to be singed in a few placed from close encounters with a few rouge pyromancers, as for his eyes and skin tone as one would expect of a man wearing armor as his skin was quite pale, and his eyes were that of a dark steel grey, that when looked at during the night one would see them as black rather than their natural color.

Victor like Reden also had brown hair, only his curled a bit and was down towards his neck, and his skin tone was somewhere in the middle between Reden and Sebastian as he sometimes liked to take his helm off when lining up some of his more challenging shots. And to finish off his appearance Victor had eyes that were almost as blue as Artorias' own.

Ornstein looked around perplexed about something though, where was Meinen?

The captain received his answer what the sound of heavy footsteps reached his ears. Turning he sees Meinen with his axe on shoulder, which appeared to have a fresh coat of blood on its blades and his shield on his other arm.

The others turn to face him as he walks into the small camp that had been made and promptly dropped onto his rear when he was within no more than three feet of his captain and Sebastian. Removing his helm it allows the warmth of the fire to touch his skin and he breaths a comforting sigh of relief. His skin was around the same tone of Sebastian but perhaps a shade or two lighter, his hair ashen in color, and he had a striking pair of pale golden eyes.

He then looks to his captain, and as he tries to slow his breathing he is handed a piece of meat that had been cooking on the fire for sometime now. "You look like you could use this?" Ornstein says with a bit of concern, unlike the undead and hallows his kind had to still eat if they wanted to survive.

Meinen looking over to his captain nods and takes the meat and begins to dig in, Ornstein then waits for him to finish, which did not take long at all, what was his rush?

"Captain I must inform you of some disturbing information I've heard when I was out there." This makes Ornstein level his gaze onto the knight and if there were one way to describe Ornstein it would've been intimidating especially with his commander glare.

While his skin was on the paler side it only made the scars that lined his face and neck stick out even more, one nasty one going down his right eye and down his cheek, and one his oldest ones which happened to have been a scar he received in training down the left side of his jaw line, but those were the really noticeable ones the rest were small scars he received from shrapnel when a dragon landed too close for comfort. His relatively short and somewhat wavy hair was dark red like that of a low and slowly dying fire, and his eyes were a matching color as well, and they were eyes that had seen the horrors of dragon, demons, and darkness, and that was what scared most when they looked into his eyes now.

See for the past two days Ornstein the four knights had all gone out and tried to either find something interesting that had happened in Lordran since they had formed this small group. So far four out of five haven't found anything of value, only passing rumors that one very powerful undead was making his way across the land reached their ears, but no one had come across him as of yet.

However Meinen may have found something interesting.

Looking towards Meinen Ornstein nods to continue, "While I was gone, I came across rumors of this undead warrior making his way across the land. And before I go on captain I must ask do you still have that strange pendant we found while in the Mad Duke's achieves?"

This got him a raised eyebrow from the captain, but he known the less checked and found that the small item was still in his possession. "Yes I do have it, what of it?"

Meinen then goes on, "Apparently this Chosen Undead as he is called has an item quite similar, and using it he was able open some sort of rift, though where it lead to I'm not quite sure."

This makes Ornstein freeze in his thoughts, being one of the Four Knights did come with its perks and one of them was advising the king, especially so for him since he was the captain. And during one of these sessions with the king Ornstein heard a truly terrifying prophecy about, an undead that will rise into Lordship, and to be more specific, a dark Lordship. And if there was an undead that could survive going through the mad Duke's archives then he was undoubtedly powerful. Which might mean that the prophecy is closer than they had all suspected.

But he was to be the Dark Lord than that was mean; the first flame is to be extinguished. That was something Ornstein wasn't going to let happen so easily. Perhaps they could catch him with their own pendant and prevent that from happening. It was somewhat of a long shot and even though there was an illusion of him guarding the palace he would be in much better comfort if he knew Gwydolin himself was safe.

Yes even though he may hold no love for how the Darkmoon did some things he was still the son of a king he severed.

But he was not absolutely sure that this Chosen Undead will actually become the Dark Lord of prophecy, and the only way to find out was to find him, meaning their own portal must be opened.

Removing the pendant Ornstein began to inspect it for was somewhat broken, not entirely but there were chips and cracks across it. But within a matter of moments Ornstein the others were shocked to see it begin to tremble and glow a bit as it began to grow more violent in its trembling the knights instinctively dawn their helms again and ready their weapons.

Though what happened next is something they never could have been ready for. The pendant began glowing a pale sickly yellow light before it began to float in the air. There was a moment of peace causing the four black knights to drop their shields and Ornstein to lower his own spear.

They quickly look between one another before the magic that had been building up inside the pendant exploded outwards opening an unstable portal, which then began to pull the five armored warriors into it.

It was so sudden that the knights were unable to brace themselves with their weapons and were gone within mere moments of the portal opening, the bad part though had yet to come, and none of the knights would know of it.

The portal closed yet the magic it had used to open was once again being charged up; only it was slowly taking it back in. But nonetheless it was preparing itself again, however it would take years, possibly decades to finish and then properly open again.

 **Unnamed Island**

Slowly opening his eyes Ornstein is met with the bright light of the midday sun shining through a cluster of trees. Getting up and stretching a bit to see he was injured he sighs when he realizes that he was for the most part unharmed.

Looking around for a bit he sees his spear imbedded in the ground a few feet from him. Gong over to he can see that was no damage done to it and that it was still sharp enough to slice through a boulder.

At least that was somewhat of a relief. Now the better question is, where did the others go? Realizing that he had been separated the captain turns looking for them in the immediate area, only to confirm that he is indeed alone.

Sighing he does the only thing he can do, he begins to walk away. Looking for the road he begins to relax a bit as he simply walks past some strange looking creatures, and what was even stranger was the fact that they did not attack on sight.

All of them had browned to reddish fur covering them and there were different kinds of the same creature, which only made the Dragon Slayer even more curious.

There was the four legged ones that pranced now and then, and seemed only interested in eating the grass that grew on the forest floor, they had what appeared to be hooves on their feet, ears that twitched back and forth with every noise the armored knight made, and some of them had dark grey horns that pointed forward and grew at a backwards angle upon their heads.

All in all these creatures were strange to Ornstein not because they appeared to be non-hostile, but because they seemed to have no remnants of the Abyss, Izalith, or the first flame. It was honestly strange to Ornstein; these creatures honestly seemed totally defenseless. Any being in Lordran would easily eviscerate these creatures by the hundreds, unless these beings had some sort of hidden means to defend themselves.

Not wanting to be caught by surprise if the time comes when he must face these creatures Ornstein locks eyes with one of the larger ones with horns, and disappears in a burst of speed.

It was over in a second though as the thing had no way to guard against Ornstein's spear. He then removes it from the head of the first and turns to see all the others running away from him.

"Odd they didn't even try to fight when one of them has died. Perhaps they actually were harmless. No matter now, it appears that I've found myself something to eat."

He then continues on his way after cleaning out his kill, and after a few hours finally came to a road, all be it a dirt road, but one nonetheless.

He then has to choose as to which way he is to walk now, either way would most likely lead him to a town, or a city. But the real question was how long would it take to get there?

Deciding to not let this bother him for too long the Dragon Slayer walks towards the sun that was now passing him over.

Now after another hour or two of walking Ornstein sees something in the distance, humans.

But something was odd about one of them, something was very wrong. He then decided it would be easier if he were to talk to these humans and find out exactly where the next town is located.

Approaching them Ornstein sees the three of them dawn faces of panic, probably at seeing his fearsome Leo helm, not that he could blame them though, when he first saw he too was quite impressed by the design it had.

But however before Ornstein could even attempt to call out to them, one fires an arrow directly at his head. To which it was swiftly snatched out of mid air by the knight, he then raises his hands a bit to show that he was not going to harm them.

They then made their approach there were three of them, one with the bow and arrows while the others two simply had what looked like simple axes. "I would advise you to put away your arms, before one of you gets hurt." Ornstein says in his commanding tone of voice. This makes the three hunters stop in their tracks as they notice his weapon was still on his back.

"Oscar, Yuri lower your weapon I don't think fighting this one is going to end well." The other two look to one another then to the towering knight in front of them and slowly put their axes back into place.

"Who are you?" The one in front asks to which Ornstein shook his head, "Before you demand answers of me perhaps I should ask as to why you fired an arrow at me?"

The lead hunter looks at the bow still in his hands and nervously answers, "W-Well we just saw that helm of your and assumed the worst, we thought you were a yoma."

This makes Ornstein raise a brow under his helm, "Yoma? Forgive me, but I've never heard of such a creature, and further more you two humans are rather abrasive when it comes to violence, forgive me though I'm not sure as to what to call your companion, but he is also quite spring-like."

This makes everything go quite as a silence settles on the three hunters and the knight. "W-What did y-you say?"

Ornstein immediately knew something was wrong with the way two of them were acting, "Oh dear, it looks **as if I've been caught."** The two hunters in front turn to the friend they knew as Oscar as his human disguise slowly began to fade.

The sounds of skin being ripped apart and bones being shifted around made the two human quiver in fear as he watches the third hunter grow till he was maybe a few inches taller than Ornstein's impressive 6'5.

The creature had dark bluish almost purple skin, solid black teeth with a bit of blood on them from the transformation, it hair ran down the length of its back until it was near the beast's waist. The beast was large and muscled from head to toe with wicked looking claws one its feet and hands. But thing that stood out most to Ornstein were the creatures eyes, those cat-like yellow eyes, they reminded him of the weaker creatures he's slain in his long career.

" **So you were able to figure out I wasn't human. I'm impressed only Claymores can tell us apart from our food, what makes you so special? I don't feel any yoki on you, in fact you feel just like a regular human, wonder if you'll taste the same?"** It asked licking its lips while also tensing its muscles preparing to strike.

However that did not cause Ornstein to be concerned in the least, his attack was already telegraphed the moment his legs seized up. This will be barely a warm up. "I know not of these Claymores nor do I know of yoki. However if you believe that you can kill me then you are surly mistaken. If you even attempt to strike me, you will surly regret it."

Ornstein reaches behind him and unveils his Dragonslayer spear and while there was no lightning coming from it as of yet, both the two humans and the single yoma knew that it was a dangerous weapon.

But still thinking that Ornstein was only a simple human the yoma charges in with his right hand extended aiming for the knight's neck.

However instead of actually hitting the knight the yoma saw his form blur for a split second and suddenly there was a searing pain that irrupted from his arm. Looking at it in horror the yoma looks at the bleeding stump of where his arm should have been.

Looking back at the knight whose spear was now soaked in purple blood the yoma roars and goes in again. This time however it was twice as fast and to the humans he was moving ridiculous speeds.

And to Ornstein it was if he was waist deep in water, it was at this point he decided to have a bit of fun. Dodging the initial strike the Dragon Slayer maneuvered around and landed a brutal kick to the to the yoma's back sending him flying into one of the larger trees, in which he nearly snapped in half with both his weight and the force of the kick.

At once it was quite again, as the yoma was bordering in and out of consciousness, the humans were stunned at the fact that this stranger was completely destroying a yoma, and Ornstein was really just a bit bored at the moment.

"Is that really the best you can do?" Ornstein asks mockingly while twirling his spear a bit out of habit.

The yoma stands up slowly from the fallen tree and locks onto Ornstein's helmed head, **"You bastard, I'm going to kill you, as slowly and painfully as possible! And when I feast on your guts I'll make sure you're alive and awake to feel every bite!"** He yells running again, only this time Ornstein wasn't contempt to simply wait for the, in his eyes, slow moving beast.

Bringing his spear up Ornstein lunges with enough force behind his spear to split a boulder in half. The yoma's arm stood no chance. The yoma looked down to his arm that was now split down the middle and knew at this point knew that it was pointless to even try to fight back.

So he decided to flee rather than fight again.

Looking at the knight who had his back turned to him the yoma turns and tries to run only for the blade of a familiar spear to suddenly emerge out of his forehead, soaked in blood and covered in tiny chucks of what used to be the monster's brain.

Ornstein then rips the spear out the top of the monster's head and flings the remaining blood of his blade and onto one of the nearby trees. He then looks at the now dead yoma at his feet and crushes the rest of the head beneath his boot, just to make sure.

When he turns his attention to the dumbfounded hunters that stood there with their mouths gaping he knew they were going to cooperate. "Now then, where is the closest town? It is almost nightfall, and I could use a good rest." He says casually while placing his spear onto his back.

"I-I-It's back the way you just came, I'll lead y-you there." He says nervously.

Ornstein nods his head and turns around and begins walking away. "No need I shall be fine on my own."

And with that the captain of Gwyn's army began walking down the dirt road back in the direction he came. All the while he wasn't able to get an unusual feeling of dread out of his mind.

Ignoring it thought he made a list of things that have to be done while here.

1\. Find the Black Knights that came in with him.

2\. Find a way back to Lordran.

3\. And if possible find out what a Claymore was.

' _As far as I know of those are only a type of swords. Why would there be beings named after a weapon though?'_

 **And done.**

 **Well that was somewhat hard to write, I tried to find a way to get Ornstein and company into Claymore and hopefully its believable that they could go there from an accident involving a magic pendant.**

 **Anyway read and review please it always helps**

 **Stay Cool**


	2. Companions

I do not own either Dark Souls or Claymore

"Speech"

' _Thoughts'_

" **Yoma or Yoki charged Claymore speech"**

' _ **Yoma or Yoki charger Claymore thought'**_

Chapter 2: Companions

It had been a few days since Ornstein's initial appearance into the land, and if he was being honest, this land was pathetic. Creatures such as dragons, or the monsters of the Abyss only existed in stories and while the Dragon Slayer was somewhat relived it also made him sigh a bit whenever he thought about it.

Whether he liked it or not he was a fighter, a warrior and he had been since his soul first came to be. After all the god of war taught him no less. And there was no changing that. There was however a few things that kept the knight entertained; first on that list was his goal to find the four Black Knights that had been under his command when they were all pulled into this place.

And while he had no doubt they could handle themselves against the creatures known as Yoma. He knew that Reden and Meinen would somehow find trouble eventually even in their short few months together, those two in particular had a habit of stumbling into problems much larger than themselves.

There was somewhat of a phantom headache, when Ornstein remembered walking through the catacombs after Reden had killed two members of the Gravelord covenant.

Explaining that to Nito was an ordeal that Ornstein hopes to never go through again.

He knew that he had to find them fast and then try to find a way back to Lordran, before any of them either are found dead, or they give the ones ruling this land a reason for wanting them dead.

Either way Ornstein would have to keep his ear to the ground, gods this was going to be difficult, he was a captain, not a spy. This was always more Ciaran's specialty. But if he wanted to get back his home then he would have to adapt.

Then there was the second thing that kept the Dragon Slayer's mind occupied. During the last few days he had been thinking of questions concerning these warriors known as Claymores and asked them to any passing townsfolk that he could, and even then many had chosen not to speak of them. But even with more than a few less than helpful humans Ornstein had been able to get a grasp as to what he should look out for.

Apparently they got the name since claymores are the only weapons these silver haired and eyed warriors use. And another thing that interested him, all Claymores were women, why? That was something he'd have to ask one in person if he ever got the chance.

But there was one thing that brought a frown onto his face when he thought about it; these people hated them, why though Ornstein would never truly understand. They were seen in no better light than the Yoma they slew. It was honestly moronic to chastise those who protect you. Sure some of the lesser gods in Anor Londo resented him since he possessed a soul greater and more powerful than theirs will ever be, but they knew damn well that not only would they be facing the captain of the entire army, but also Gwyn, and the other three knights.

So they wisely kept their resentment to themselves, although Ornstein knew that, that wasn't the only reason they grew to dislike him. But still why hate the one that protects you, it will only cause them to grow irritated and eventually hate you as much as you hate them. But fools will be fools, not like Ornstein cared in the slightest, the world was better off without some fools in it.

But back to the Claymores they weren't too hard to spot considering they had their famous swords on them at all times, all of them had pale colored hair whether it be brown, blonde, or silver, and their piercing silver eyes. And it just so happened that the town known as Theo only a few miles from here was expecting a Claymore to take care of their own Yoma problem.

He quickly then made it the town and began to wait.

So here Ornstein sat in a tavern with his armor and spear stored away in his bottomless box while a greatsword he bought was displayed proudly on his back. True that this weapon was more akin to Artorias, but that didn't mean he was a novice when it came to using it in combat, he could use nearly every weapon forged by man or giant it just so happened that spears will forever be his specialty. Although he would admit that seeing their eyes bulge out of their heads was quite humorous, as they watched him casually swing a sword like that around with ease.

It also gave him something to reach for if the Yoma in the room tried anything.

And that was both the reason it was still visible and related to the last thing that has kept him occupied over the last few days, Yoma were somewhat fun to hunt. Although he supposed it was cutting into the work of Claymores he was sure a few monsters going missing isn't something that would be noticed.

He had already killed about three of them, the first being on that road with the hunters, the second being on his way to another town after stopping for supplies and a rest at the first town, and the third was only yesterday, after the beast thought to try and murder him in his sleep.

You don't work with someone like Ciaran without learning to keep one open as you slept.

Ornstein knew that there were six of them in the village; he could feel them as easily as he could feel the ground beneath his feet. And it made him want to laugh at the fact that he spoke to one of these "disguised" Yoma no more than an hour ago. _'Fools will be fools though, and I'm not about to reveal myself to them. I'll wait I'm not ruining my chance to finally get some answers.'_

So for the next day Ornstein continued to wait while he kept up a façade of being only a simple traveler by staying at the town inn, even though their beds could hardly hold him. But it was not all bad; it had earned him a laugh when the innkeeper's daughter saw him shirtless and promptly left the room with her face showing a brighter red than both his hair and eyes.

There was however one moment in which Ornstein nearly broke character and resisted the urge to backhand one of the more rowdy patrons of a tavern through a wall. The man thought of himself as a warrior and had the gall to try and challenge him, and even though he could clearly tell that the other, smaller, and most importantly mortal man was very drunk at this point, to do nothing would be a stain on his honor.

So instead of knocking him through the wall or cutting the man in half, Ornstein merely grabbed him by the shirt and threw him out the door, which he thought was the correct thing to do.

But from the looks everyone else was giving him, he assumed he might've used a bit too much strength.

However none of that mattered, because as soon as the Claymore came he would be able to leave and hopefully not reveal too much. He planned to somewhat follow her as she was guaranteed to head to another town eventually, but during her trip there he hoped she would have some information or really heard any rumors about any knights that matched the description of the four black knights. And while he knew it was a long shot to assume she had any real information Ornstein was trying to be optimistic.

 **The Next Day**

In the morning Ornstein found himself in the market square of the town near the entrance, the reason being he could feel the presence of an insanely large soul approaching the town, this must be the Claymore they sent for, strange though he wasn't expecting them to send a warrior this powerful for six…no seven Yoma in this town.

Perhaps she simply was the closest to the town that seemed to be the most logical thing that came to mind.

Feeling her getting closer then seeing where exactly all the Yoma were in the town Ornstein begins to move away from the entrance and more towards the center of the market and waited for the show. And he didn't have to wait long.

The moment the Claymore entered the town it was if all noise stopped, no one dared to even breath and in that brief moment Ornstein started to analyze her from head to toe.

She was young looking and roughly about 5'10 (180 cm) maybe a bit taller, her hair was like the people said all Claymore hair was like pale and hers was no different with it being a unique shade of blonde, but she had hers long, wavy, and somewhat loosely hanging from her shoulders, she also had it split down the middle, which only drew more attention to her somewhat mischievous silver eyes. Ornstein could see that she was very aware that these simple Yoma would be no match for her.

Great that only means, things were going to be boring then. He hoped that she would at least have some kind of information about his knights otherwise this was going to be a day of disappointments.

But moving on to her attire Ornstein looks it over and can see that it was somewhat lacking in the armor department, as it was only a light grey two-piece suit, with cloth around her neck and what he assumed was some kind of symbol near her throat. Hell the only armor he could see was her steel plated shin-high boots, her wrist guards, pauldrons and some around the waist somewhat like a skirt. And to top it all off a waist length cape was slightly blowing in the wind giving her more of a dramatic look.

Laughing a bit Ornstein knew she had to either be incredible at dodging attacks, or perhaps she could heal herself like most knights do with miracles.

Ornstein knew what was about to happen the second she locked eyes with the closest disguised Yoma and like he predicted in his head the beast was dead in one swing of her sword. Easily cleaved nearly in two by the blade. She then continued her small warpath finding three more Yoma hidden among the crowd each one taken care of in similar fashion like the first, all of them killed in a single blow.

Then it became a bit more interesting from there as two of the remaining three Yoma shed their disguises and went after her, "An older and wiser Yoma would've shed their disguise the moment they saw me." She says with somewhat of an arrogant, yet experienced tone.

' _So she's fought older and wiser Yoma, interesting maybe she's quite as young as she looks.'_ Ornstein couldn't help but think of all the knights in Anor Londo that looked no older than thirty, but in reality were closer to three hundred, it was a comparison he was sure might actually be closer to reality than he thought.

He see her kill both of the Yoma that attacked her and sighs seeing that it was already over, hell the only one that remained felt like the weakest of them all and was using a girl as a shield no less.

' _Does he not realize that his head is still very much exposed?'_ A small shower of purple blood answers the question for him.

Looking back at the others who had now transformed back into their original forms it made the captain of Anor Londo nod his head almost in admiration. She had killed them all, each with one fast and powerful slash which either decapitated, cut them in two, or in one's case split only his head in two. It was actually very good that he saw one this powerful in action; he saw that her form was astounding, no movements wasted, and always-in total control of the fight.

A remarkable fighter in his own opinion, which if one were to ask anyone in Anor Londo would tell you that, that alone meant the warrior was dangerous.

 **Later that night**

Afterwards when most of the people stopped screaming and panicking, they moved the bodies and mostly everyone moved to their own homes for the night, all except Ornstein who was practicing in one of the empty fields a mile outside of town.

He knew that by now the Claymore was most likely asleep seeing as she had walked to Theo from gods know how far away, then the moment she arrived killed seven Yoma in the time frame of about a minute at most two.

And he highly doubted that she would show any interest in the town outside of the job, however that didn't mean he was going to let her out of his sensory range just yet, he could still feel the presence of her soul, but as of right now he wasn't concentrating meaning he could only tell the general direction of her for a certain amount of distance.

He stood in the field wearing only cloth trousers, and regular working boots and not really caring about the fact that he was training shirtless in the rain.

After all it wasn't as if the lightning would kill him.

He slowed his breathing down and picked up his famous spear from the ground next to him before going over his forms. He started with the simple thrusts mixed in with a few slashes on nothing but air, but gradually picked up speed until he was practically dodging raindrops. His spear then began to glow a faint yellow before lightning suddenly bust into life on the blade and traveled up his arm until it rested in his left palm.

He then turns and takes aim at one of the thicker tress and unleashes a lightning spear, with a thunderous boom the spear left his hand and struck the tree practically turning the dirt around the base into glass, and absolutely obliterating the trunk of the tree causing it to begin to fall rapidly towards him.

But instead of dodging Ornstein smirks and faster than the eye could see swung his spear cleaving the tree in half causing it to fall on either side of him, with a resounding boom.

From there Ornstein takes a stance before charging at another tree only to stop no more than ten feet from it and unleash lightning from the tip of his spear, he watches with unmoving posture as the bolt goes through multiple tress much like a sharp blade through rotting flesh. Looking from the smoldering ruins that used to be trees he disappears in a burst of speed and summons another bolt of lightning before slamming it down no more than a foot in front of him. In an instant all life within a near thirty foot radius was evaporated, the dirt now glass, the grass now ash, and any water touching the ground and all the water around him still mid air was instantly evaporated leaving him in a small bubble of air for a moment. Before the constant rainfall filled it and once again left him completely soaked.

Looking up from his work Ornstein closes his eyes and looks up into the rain enjoying it for a few seconds as it cooled him.

He then takes a deep breath and begins to slow his heart, a trick he learned from talking to a traveler from the eastern continent before finding Sebastian.

And as he stood there enjoying the sounds of the rain around him, something alerts the captain to a disturbance the tell tale sounds of raindrops hitting metal came to his ears.

Snapping his eyes open in shock he turns to the source and his eyes widen seeing the familiar silver eyes of the Claymore he had seen that morning. How did she get that close without him sensing her?

It was dark so he wasn't sure if she had seen his face yet, but soon a flash of natural lightning illuminated her entirely, she stood their no more than forty yards from where a tree once stood, her hair damp from the rain, a faint smile on her lips, and her silver eyes full of curiosity as she looked directly into his own fiery red.

That moment of light felt like an eternity to Ornstein, he was able to see that her posture was entirely relaxed unlike this morning where she was prepared to strike the moment she arrived, her sword was still in its holster, and he could see it that she too was studying him. But what she thought of what she saw he did not know.

The moment the light vanished Ornstein made his move to leave the field, allowing himself to tap into his godly amount of power he vanishes in a burst of speed and reappears almost a hundred yards away from where he originally stood. Only to feel the presence of the Claymore nipping at his heels, so she can keep up with him, for now? _'Great.'_ He thought sarcastically.

He then goes a different direction as uses his power multiple times to send him on multiple jumps at once trying to make some distance. Yet he felt her once again keeping up, he couldn't help but laugh at this point only a few silver knights were able to keep up with him when he was actually trying to move at some insane speeds. Of course the black knights and the other Knights of Gwyn were able to move this fast even the lumbering Gough, who looked remarkably slow was able to really move when he had to.

As this goes on though he is torn between smirking or frowning as the woman is able to still keep up with him, but then again he was barely using any of his true power, and yet deep down he knew, so was she.

After a few attempts to escape he laughs a bit seeing how persistent she is, "If you wanted to follow me you could've waited till morning!" He shouts to her while slightly increasing his speed every time he moves.

And of course so does she, matching him movement for movement always just right behind him, "Seeing as you're not going to talk allow me. I've got a few questions, and I'm confident that you'll be able to answer." He says suddenly appearing behind her instead of away from her.

She turns around suddenly and looks up to him, their eyes meet for a moment, "Humor me if you will." Ornstein says raising his hands to show he meant no harm. He sees the Claymore frown a bit, most likely from him getting behind her, but it soon turns into that smile he saw when she first appeared.

"Alright then, I'll humor you." She says while still tensed and prepared to move if he did. Ornstein nods his head puts his spear on his back. "As fun as it would be to continue this little game of chase, I believe it would be better if we were to have this conversation back in town." He says gesturing to the rain that was still falling heavily around them.

The Claymore nods, "I suppose it would be." She says as they both make their way back into town.

When they arrive Ornstein allows her to lead him to her room, there she turns away from him and removes her armor before she plants her sword into the ground and leans against it, not caring in the slightest that her hair and clothes were soaked.

Ornstein on the other hand simply puts on a pair of dry trousers and undergarments facing away from her. Though if he were honest he really did not at all care that she could have see him naked. He was sure that Ciaran had seen both him and Artorias naked plenty of times, though he wasn't sure as to how often she saw them since it was difficult to know if she was there or not. She was always somewhat mischievous when it came to her lover. He was just unfortunate enough to be caught up in it sometimes. Now that he thought about it she was actually quite erotic when it came to Artorias, he had been kicked out of his own room once after a particularly brutal spar with the Wolf Knight. He had those sheets burned.

So seeing as the night was most likely going to pass at a snail's pace he reaches into his bottomless box and removes a small bottle of wine. He had grown to love the drink during his celebrations with the other knights, especially Havel.

Sitting down and leaning against the wall opposite to her, he sees the Claymore is curious as to what he just did, but is holding herself back from asking. "It's called a bottomless box." He says suddenly causing her to raise a brow at him answering her unasked question.

"I doubt it's actually bottomless." She says with a mocking tone to her voice. However her attitude did a complete turn around when he pulls out the greatsword he bought out of nowhere and made his spear disappear in it's place.

"Well to be completely honest the bottomless box is really, not a box at all but somewhat of a complex realistic illusion that all warriors of Lordran posses in their bodies." He says offhandedly at the comment while thinking as to how it actually worked.

Was it some sort of innate magic that all creatures were able to access? Was it simply there for convenience sake? Or did an all-powerful creator "program" it into existence? Truly he didn't know nor care to know as it was there when he first entered combat and it is still with him now, and it was just very convenient.

But he stopped his inner thoughts when he saw that the Claymore was now completely lost.

"Never mind then, so allow me to ask you this, why were you out there watching me?" He asks taking a sip of wine from the bottle.

She stares at him a bit before answering, "I felt some kind of power, I wasn't sure exactly what it was, but it was something I just couldn't ignore so I followed it and…well it led me to you. Which is why I'm wondering as to exactly what you did, and what power you truly posses. You're no Yoma I would have known the moment I stepped foot into this village, but you're not human either. What are you?" She asks bluntly at the end.

Ornstein smirks at bit, "I'm not a what my lady, I'm a whom. And as to who I am, my name is Ornstein. And who might I ask are you?" He asks somewhat dodging the topic of miracles and his soul.

The smile that he saw in the field and when she first entered the city was once again visible on her face, "Alright then Ornstein, if you really want to know that bad my name is Teresa of the Faint Smile." She says confidently, "And you tried to avoid the question I asked earlier, what sort of power was that you used?"

Ornstein smirked once again while sipping the wine again, "Would you believe me if I told you I'm just very fast." She shakes her head; "Ok then I draw power from my soul."

This makes the Teresa glare a bit thinking it was another joke. Only to see Ornstein raise his hand and before a small bright white flame appeared in his hand, "This is a very, very small portion of my soul, this is where my power comes from." He says closing his hand.

Teresa was in awe somewhat at seeing someone who just brought their soul out of their own body. It was amazing to look at, even though she only got a glimpse of it. She felt the wave of warmth it created and knew he wasn't lying when he said that it was a portion of his soul. How could she when he so easily presented proof?

"Well then I guess you were telling the truth."

"Now then Teresa, may I ask as to what exactly a Claymore is? I'm new to this land and call me curious, but after hearing about warriors like you I couldn't help but take notice."

Teresa looking him over a bit decides that there was no point in dodging this, "First of all we are not called Claymores that is simply the name the people of this land gave us. As for what we really are, well the best way to explain it is like this, in order to fight monsters, sometimes you must become one."

Ornstein knew what she meant when she said that, "So you're a Yoma yourself?" She shakes her head, "No, I'm not a Yoma, but I'm not a human either. I'm a mix between the two, warriors like myself were created in order to fight the Yoma epidemic by The Organization." Hearing the name Ornstein couldn't help but raise a brow, the name itself was very ominous and if that wasn't bad enough just hearing gave Ornstein aches.

' _That name is going to cause a lot of pain for me in the future, I can already tell.'_ But ignoring this feeling he continues to simply sip his wine in peace as Teresa looked as if she was about to fall asleep.

"Teresa before you fall asleep may I ask one more question?" She opens her eyes and nods. "You wouldn't have happened to hear rumors of knights wearing black horned armor would you? They aren't easy to forget they are about around my height, they have some rather interesting looking weapons, and unmistakable helms each one looks like a pair of horns atop their heads." Teresa shakes her head at hearing the description truly she didn't care for rumor unless a Yoma or another warrior was involved.

"No I can't say I have heard of knights like those, in this land knights are a very rare thing, and if there were any around your height with black horned armor like you described, I'm sure they'd be guarding nobles, or the bishops by now."

Ornstein knew that she might've not heard anything so he couldn't be too disappointed, but still there he was still at square one in his search for his fellow knights.

"I see then, thank you." He then closes his eyes only for Teresa to wake him exactly like he did to her moments ago, "It was you that caused the lightning during the storm wasn't it?"

He looks to her trying to hide another smirk, "I saw that there was hardly any distance between the flashes of light, and I don't think I've ever seen lightning come from anywhere, but the clouds." She says knowing he couldn't claim she was wrong.

"Alright then, assume that I'm able to use lightning, I'll neither confirm nor deny that." He says before placing the cork back into his wine bottle and storing it away.

They then both fell asleep, each leaning against the walls opposite to each other.

 **Morning**

When the sun rose Teresa awoke to see that Ornstein was gone. She couldn't say that she was completely surprised at this, but still it was unfortunate to loose such an interesting character. But none the less she was sure her handler will most likely be waiting with another assignment, so she put her armor back into place and made sure her sword was secure before going for the door.

Only for a golden armored figure to step through the door and stare her in the eyes, eyes she quickly realized were a fiery red. Taking a step back Teresa was able to look over the armor that Ornstein wore, and it truly was unlike any she had ever seen. It was beautiful to look at the craftsmanship was astounding, every detail was made with only Ornstein in mind as every part of the armor from its golden gauntlets, matching leggings the part of the armor that somewhat layered over his legs, the spiked ridges that appeared all around the shoulders and lining the cloth at his waist. Looking a bit closer she could see a few scratches and what looked like scorch marks at his sides and the five jewels that went across his chest just below the collarbone. Overall it was an intimidating set.

But it didn't stop there, as under his arm was the helm to complete the look. With the same ceremonious look to it as the rest of the armor with the bright blood red plume attached to the top of the helm the fearsome growling lion's head and it's somewhat sleek looking edges. All in all the armor was built for maneuverability, yet offered a good deal of defense if the enemy were to get lucky.

Looking to the face of the man underneath the armor Teresa was able to see two huge scars on his face that she wasn't able to see last due to dim lighting. The first going from his neck along his entire jaw line to his bottom lip, and the second beginning at his forehead traveling down his face, over his right eye and stopping just short of his jaw.

"Well, seeing as you know that I'm not an ordinary traveler, perhaps you'll let me go with you to the next town. I promise not to bother you." He says before making his helm disappear.

Sighing Teresa only nodded and motioned her head for both of them to walk outside. There they were met with the people of the town who looked shocked to see Ornstein both leaving in an armor set they were absolutely sure he never arrived in and leaving with the Claymore who had massacred seven Yoma the day before.

"Here we managed to collect the payment." One man says trying to give the large bag of money to Teresa only for her to shake her head. "Don't give the money to me, after I leave a man in black will arrive to collect, give it to him." She tells him, to which he nodded nervously.

Ornstein shrugged his shoulders a bit at hearing this; he was assuming that the warrior would be compensated for their efforts against the Yoma, or at least taken care.

They then turn to leave only for something to grab onto Teresa's cape.

Looking down at the girl Ornstein recognizes her; it's the little girl from yesterday, the same one that the last Yoma held as a hostage.

Seeing that she was still holding onto her cape Teresa gains a looks of annoyance before grabbing her cape and throwing the young girl to the ground by ripping it out of her grip. "Who is this girl? She belonged to the final Yoma I destroyed didn't she? Trying to exact revenge for your father's death?" She asks somewhat mockingly, which unknown to her made Ornstein glare at her for her actions.

Looking to the one still holding the money he tries to explain, "Um, no actually I don't think she belongs to anyone here or even the Yoma you killed. But she was traveling with it." This causes Teresa to raise a brow at him in confusion.

"She…she hasn't spoken to anyone ever since she arrived, but I think she knew the one you killed was a Yoma and it was keeping her prisoner or hostage while traveling from village to village, until they ended up here."

It was here that both Ornstein and Teresa thought of something odd it was Ornstein who voiced it though, "If she hasn't spoken, then how do you know this?" He asks taking a step forward standing almost shoulder-to-shoulder with Teresa.

The man looks down the at the girl his face dawns somewhat of a sympathetic look, "Well we couldn't help but notice that she is covered to scars and bruises, probably from her travels with the Yoma."

It was at this point Teresa lets out an irritated sigh, "So she was the Yoma's plaything, so you must think I'm some kind of savior, don't you? Don't over think it I didn't kill the Yoma to save you, I did it because it is my job, nothing more."

However the little girl ignored everything Teresa had said and latched onto her leg, this got an honest chuckle from Ornstein, "It looks as if she's going to be a persistent one."

Hearing him laugh Teresa looks at him with a glare before kicking the girl off of her, and not gently either.

Hearing the girl shout in pain Ornstein looks over to her and see that she was once again back on her feet, "Perhaps I wasn't completely clear, what I did yesterday does not make me your savior or your friend." She says harshly to the young girl.

Ornstein clenching his fist at seeing Teresa's actions was almost about to go over to her when the girl once again started to walk towards Teresa.

Then while not even looking Teresa makes a very clear threat, "Take one more step, and you'll regret it. Surly you're not both mute and deaf."

At this point the town's people were whispering to one another about what was about to happen to the girl and it honestly got on Ornstein's nerves a bit all of them questioning if she was a Yoma herself, if Teresa would kill her, or what they were to do with her.

Then time seemed to slow down as the girl tried to take another step, Teresa turned to kick her, and in the blink of an eye Ornstein was in front of the girl blocking Teresa's low aiming kick with his own knee.

"I think she's had enough. Leave the girl be." Everyone at this point slowly moved away from the two armored titans as Teresa eyes glared holes into Ornstein's own. They stayed like this for a moment Ornstein standing tall in front of the girl somewhat like a shield, while Teresa stood defiantly in front of him not a word was spoken and eventually Teresa only let out a sigh, "For someone who said they wouldn't be a bother, you're being quite troublesome Ornstein."

He smirks, "Well I am a knight, call it my code of chivalry kicking in. Now then I believe you've made your point to the girl, I'd prefer to simply leave, rather than cause a scene."

Teresa sighing and rubbing the bridge of her nose turns and begins to walk away, "Just so you know, my job was only to destroy six Yoma, the seventh we'll call my parting gift to Theo." She says making her way out into the forest.

Turning to the little girl behind him Ornstein looks at her before giving her a soft smile he leans down on one knee and gives her an apple he stored in his bottomless box. She looks at him with a sort of blank stare before she took the apple in her hands.

Seeing that she took the item from him Ornstein stands up again at his full height and pats the girl on the head with his armored hand.

"Take care child." He said warmly to her before turning and following after Teresa. But not before giving her the gesture of quite resolve as a farewell.

Unknown to him said child's eyes never left his back, and they seemed a bit brighter and more full of life than a few moments ago.

 **Later that Night**

Ornstein and Teresa were at this point both surrounding a fire that had been made some time ago yet it was deadly silent the entire time. He had caught up to her some time ago, yet neither of them had said anything to one another then and have yet to utter a single word to one another.

Reasons being Teresa was still a bit irritated that he would easily get in her way like that rather than just letting her take care of the girl on her own. She never had any intention of killing or actually harming the girl, she just wanted to make her stop seeing her as this savior figure she had imagined. Teresa knew she would only be disappointed.

And Ornstein was still bothered by the casual attitude Teresa had as she struck a child, one who had been most likely abused or tortured no less by a Yoma. As a knight seeing any innocence come to harm disturbed him greatly, but he had always held a soft spot for children around the capital when he was still in Lordran.

However the silence was beginning to bother Ornstein since he could feel the presence of more than a dozen smaller souls in the area, humans. That could only mean one thing, bandits, thieves, highwaymen whatever they called themselves they were all scum in his opinion.

' _Preying on those you assume are weak, every time I think of it all I picture are those damned Dark Wraiths, to Izalith with them all.'_ He said in his head and just before he was going to go take care of them all, another smaller and very familiar presence made itself known to him.

Standing no more than ten yards away from the fire he and Teresa sat, stood the little girl from the village, and before he could react Teresa was behind her with her sword on the girls shoulder.

"I commend you for keeping up with us for as long as you have. But I can't have you following anymore. I told you before I didn't kill those Yoma to save, I did it only because it is my job."

Hearing this Ornstein gets ready for the bandits to attack, he could feel some of them closing in from around the forest. He scans the area and can see how many are in the trees and how many were simply waiting out of sight to attack. He tightens the grip on his spear without any suspicion.

"I tolerated you in the village, but you've begun to annoy me. So if you want, I will help you join your Yoma." It was here that both Ornstein and Teresa, alerting them as to what was about to happen, heard a broken branch. Time seemed to stop for a moment as one bandit fell out of the trees with a war cry causing Teresa to roll away, all the while another two closed in on her, one behind her and the other behind the girl.

Shifting her weight she was able to easily swing her sword and almost cleave the man's head in two, but strangely stopped herself, "Humans?!" She says understanding why she wasn't able to sense them.

Still it didn't stop her from slicing one's hand off as he reached for the girl. He screams in pain clutching his wound, while Teresa moves the girl behind her. "Don't you dare touch her." She commands with a deadly tone of voice.

At the same time Ornstein the moment the first bandit dropped from the trees caught an arrow that was aimed for his neck. Looking to his left he sees the shocked face of the bandit who tried to kill him.

Removing his spear he vanishes and not a moment later that bandit found the spear completely run through him all the way to the cross shaped guard. He chokes on his own blood for a bit before he dies, but Ornstein made sure that he wouldn't die alone.

Two others ran at him swords drawn, Ornstein actually looking insulted by the sloppy attack the first one throws at him he catches the blade with his own hand.

From there he grabs the man by the throat and lifts him up before throwing him into a tree snapping his spine on impact. This leaves the third frozen in fear to simply shake as Ornstein crushes the blade in his bare hand, "Now what will you do, vermin." He says kicking him with enough force to completely destroy his chest cavity, and sends him flying off into the forest, already dead.

From there he turns and walks the small distance from where he fought back to camp, which was now completely surrounded by bandits. And at this point they were more stunned by the mere sight of Teresa than him. _'Did they not see me kill three of their own? Pitiful little things these bandits are.'_

Discreetly looking over her shoulder Teresa saw that Ornstein was unharmed and had yet to be seen the bandits somehow.

Placing her sword in the ground she looks to them all, "Bandits. You'll find that I have nothing worth stealing. Now then I'd attend to that man's wound if I were you, he doesn't have much time." She says in an uninterested manner to them.

Suddenly a voice called out from the woods, "His death would create a real problem for you wouldn't it?" Everyone hearing it turns to see what Teresa and Ornstein assumed to be the leader walking out of the woods. "Imagine my surprise finding a Claymore so deep in my forest, and such an attractive one at that."

Hearing this his own men turn to him surprise, "Boss this is a silver-eyed witch we're dealing with, tread carefully." However the bandit leader gave no sign of worry, "I'm not concerned, this witch, will do no more harm. You'll see." He says with that same arrogant attitude that only served to piss off Ornstein even more, but a part of him wondered as to why Teresa wouldn't harm them, she did cut one's hand off.

"Claymores are forbidden from killing humans accidentally or otherwise. So don't think she is actually concerned for our friend, she's simply afraid of being punished for breaking their most important law. The punishment would be beheading by one of her fellow witches. Very little actually separates these mix breeds from the Yoma, they'll benefit if it appears as if they give a damn about human life. If they didn't what's to keep people from thinking they're on our side at all."

Hearing this the bandits closest to her gained a hungry look in their eyes as they looked at her, they made jokes about her situation and how she could not harm them. _'Fools, she can't kill you, but she can harm you.'_ Ornstein shakes his head at the fact that they missed an important loophole.

He had just about had enough of them mocking Teresa, she was a warrior, not a damned prostitute! "Wait, where'd the other one go? There was a man with her?" One asks out loud making the others look to her then the girl behind her realizing they missed one.

"Oh I'm sure he's been taken care of I know my forest like I do my own skin. I simply had Edger wait in the tree next to their camp and had him put an arrow in his neck, I'm guessing he's been searching him this whole time with the other men I sent with him. Perhaps I shouldn't have wasted by best archer on him and had him take out the witch instead."

At hearing this Ornstein could not help but laugh, and it was no small laugh like a chuckle, it was a loud, proud, and somewhat sinister. Emerging from the woods Ornstein still held his spear over his shoulder, still in his armor without the helm. "'Your' forest you call it, forgive me but that is by far the most arrogant thing I've heard in quite some time. To really think that a forest this big doesn't hide true monsters, you really are a complete fool, I know for damn sure that what you said is an insult to the Forest Hunters. And an insult like that is great enough for them to warrant your execution. And as for those pathetic things you called "your men" they were dealt with." He finishes showing his still bloody spear in the moonlight.

At this the leader grits his teeth at the sight while Teresa smirks seeing Ornstein take control of the whole situation. To be honest Teresa was somewhat glad he had killed a few of them, men like these she heard can almost be as bad as Yoma.

Seeing blood on his weapon one of the men closer to him yelled and charged him with his knife. Ornstein turns to him and casually avoids his attempt to stab him before slicing off one of his legs. The man lets out a horrible scream of pain as he hits the ground and flails a bit before he tries to desperately crawl away from the captain. From there the other bandits watch in horror as this golden armored beast of a man calmly goes over to him and stomps on his neck creating a sickening crunch beneath his boot.

"Now then, this is what is going to happen, I'm giving you one warning to leave us be. If you do not heed my warning I will kill each and every one of you. Do I make myself clear? I don't care if she cannot kill you, just know that I will do what I know she desperately wants to." He says in his commanding tone of voice making some of the weaker willed ones flinch at hearing it.

The leader of the bandits looks to him, the bloody spear, then to the dead man beneath his boot, "Let's go," he says all of them slowly back away from the group of three.

But as one left he turned around still holding his missing hand and snarled at Teresa, "You won't get away with this Claymore!" He says lowly, only for his eyes to go wide seeing the blade of a still bloody spear appear in his face.

"Watch your tongue vermin, insult or threaten my companion again, and I will remove the rest of you arm." He says threateningly to the man and watches as they move away from him as quickly as possible. Watching them leave he sighs before going back over to the fire and quickly snuffed it out.

He looks to Teresa notices that she had a faint smile on he face after seeing his display. She then looks him in the eyes and she nods as they both begin to walk away. But before they get too far, Teresa turns back around to address the still somewhat shocked girl, "You should go girl. Travel with someone human for once." She says coldly to her while walking away.

She then turns and walks beside Ornstein sighing as they both know the girl is still behind them, hearing him laugh a bit Teresa looks to him, "You're too hard on the girl, let her at least enjoy our company for some time. She at least deserves a bit of comfort after what she's been through." He says looking at her over his shoulder.

Teresa however sighs once again, "No, you're simply too soft on her, I meant what I said back there, I didn't kill the Yoma to save her, I killed it because it was my duty." She says a bit colder.

However Ornstein still smiles, "You say that, but give her time. Children have a way of worming their way into you heart, trust me I know from personal experience. And besides if you truly killed the Yoma for duty's sake, then why did you save her from that bandit?" He asks her honestly, to which she doesn't answer and walks a bit faster.

 **Meanwhile**

On the other side of the continent stood a single knight, in his left hand was his Black Knight's shield and in his right was the Black Knight Glaive, this was the Steel-eyed Black Knight, Reden.

Before him stood a small town, it wasn't anything impressive like some of the other cities he'd heard about or seen, and the entire thing could fit inside some of the buildings back in Anor Londo, but he doubted anything he'd see in this place could hold a candle to the capital of Lordran.

He heard a few rumors about this place a few days ago and wanted to see if it was true or not, apparently the town tried to cheat a Claymore out of their full payment since one of the Yoma fled a few days before she arrived, they blamed her and said that she should track it down and kill it once and for all, but she told them it was already long gone.

They still didn't believe her, and tried to cut back on the price, people claimed the mayor was a former bandit, meaning he really didn't care for the people he ruled over in this tiny little village. But apparently this is what happens when someone tries to cheat the Claymores out of their money.

About two months after the incident of them not paying the mayor invited his whole bandit crew to live in the city in order to "protect the people," but some of those people weren't human.

And as time went on the whole village eventually became overrun by Yoma, and even when the mayor himself begged with almost triple the amount necessary to kill the Yoma in his town, no Claymore came to help.

And as so the town became deserted, most were apparently eaten by the Yoma, while many left as soon as they could leaving almost everything behind.

And now here he stood overlooking the town, truthfully most people he'd talked to told him to avoid this place, but it was the fastest way across the mountain range. And from what he heard some of the more populated cites would be on the other side, meaning a better chance to find either his brothers or his captain.

Closing his eyes he began to try and sense the Yoma down there, from what he could tell there were about six of them, most of them no more powerful than the giant rats of some of Lordran's dirtier places. But one of them felt a bit stronger, he'd say maybe a little bit weaker than a Dark Wraith, he'd always liked fighting those things.

True they were despicable to him and every other honor bound knight he knew. But he had to admit that they were no pushovers in combat.

He'd be lying if he said he wasn't going in there just because it was the shortest path, he felt something that was off. Among the seven Yoma souls there was another soul, it was small yet it gave off a feeling of hidden potential. Perhaps it was a human warrior that the Yoma were saving for later, or something else entirely he really did not know. Nor did he really care he was simply curious.

And for a knight who had been called just things as curious and talkative, he was never a subtle fighter. Not that he cared as to what they thought, as long as they knew he could hold his own.

"Oh well, what the worse that could happen?" He says out loud making his way into town.

It was funny really he knew the instant he walked into the town that almost every Yoma there had there eyes on him. And he was honestly in somewhat of a hurry, there looked to be a storm coming soon, and he'd rather not be caught in the rain.

"I know you're there! Save us both some time and just come out already!" He shouts to the houses in front of him. It then becomes quiet, as the only sound there was for a small moment was only the wind.

Until a roar was heard behind him, so this one will be the first to die. Shifting his weight the knight brought his glaive around in a wide arc and ducked at the same time. In doing both at once he was rewarded with the sound of his blade slicing through flesh. Turning to see his opponent he sees a humanoid Yoma laying on the bleeding and snarling at him, missing his right leg.

"Well would you look at this, it seems as if I struck first blood, hopefully your friends put up more of a fight." He says darkly before thrusting his weapon through the head of the Yoma.

As it bleeds out he stands up and looks around, "Oh come on, is this the best you can do? I wanted to fight monsters, not cowards!" This gets exactly the reaction he wants as three more Yoma leap into the street to meet him all of them glaring at him with those glowing golden slit eyes.

"Well then, your friend is waiting in the after life, let's not keep him waiting long!" He shouts charging the three. To which they respond in turn and charge to meet him, one taking flight on its bat like wings and the other two running at him full sprint.

Going for the runner on his right Reden points his glaive forward and tries to pierce the monster's chest, only for it to try and catch the weapon before it could pierce its chest. **"What will you do without your weapon, human?"** It asks arrogantly thinking that Reden was now defenseless.

Only Reden smiles underneath his helm, he blocks the claws of the runner on his left before slamming the edge into its ribs earning a resounding pop to be heard from the Yoma's chest. "Who said that was my only weapon, by the way that's a very bad idea to hold a glaive like that." He casually before twisting the spear slicing open the monster's hands.

After it lets loose a roar of pain Reden is then forced to dodge attack from the one on his left as it as recovered from the brutal shot to ribs, and Reden can tell it is seriously struggling to even stand up straight. So focusing on the Yoma to his right Reden spins his glaive around and while the beast avoids getting its head taken off, its throat was cut wide open allowing its purple blood to flow like a fountain onto the streets.

' _ **Why am I not healing!?'**_ The beast thinks just before it blacks out from blood loss before silently dying on the street..

Meanwhile Reden could only smile, apparently Twinkling Titanite slows down a Yoma's healing factor, well at least it does for the weaker ones. But that can wait for later.

He looks between the one with broken ribs and the flying one that has yet to attack, making his choice at who to kill first he leaps onto the building to his left with astounding ease and performs a plunge attack on the shocked Yoma that was watching from the roof of the house.

"That's three down you ugly bastards! And I haven't even broken a sweat!" He yells to every Yoma around.

Immediately after shouting that Reden feels their power increase as the last two that were hiding reveal themselves with another being a flying Yoma, **"You're going to pay for this you bastard!"** The injured one of the streets yells as it and the other ground based Yoma leap onto the house as well.

Reden tensing his legs puts his shield on his back and two hands his glaive. Waiting for the right moment the knight waits until both are in range. He then performs a power full circle swing that sliced both Yoma open across the chest, but he didn't end at only one he continued with two more complete spins leaving three deep and rapidly bleeding wounds.

Seeing as though one was still in better health he finishes his attack with a brutal downward attack the splits one of the Yoma in two.

Turning as the flying ones were now coming to attack him he raises his shield to block the incoming claws one of one of the flying Yoma. But he notices that he is knocked off balance a bit and almost falls, however by correcting himself he is left open for a moment.

A moment that the second flying monster took advantage of, **"Got you, arrogant prick!"** It shouts before kicking him off the roof as it flew away.

As he lay on the cobblestone floor Reden snaps his eyes open, ' _Four, I was able to go through four opponents. And then I get cocky, damn if the captain were here he'd tear into me for being this foolish!'_ He shouts to himself in his head.

He looks up to see the last two remaining Yoma in the in the streets, or really sky coming right at him again. He knew the other one of the roof was definitely dead by now, those wound he gave it were enough to bring a demon to their knees, a single Yoma wasn't too bad.

Looking dead on at the two incoming enemies Reden takes in a deep breath before he rushes to meet them. In the blink of an eye, he slams the tipped end of his shield into the first's head, cracking it completely in two. From there he grips his glaive with two hands and leaps into the air just above where the Yom was flying.

The beast didn't have even a moment to realize where the knight was before it was cut in two.

Landing on the ground Reden looks around and tries to find the last Yoma soul and the human that was left in the city. He then began walking when he found them on the other side of town.

While walking he noticed bodies in the streets, some of them still rotting. It was truly a sorry sight to see.

When he finally arrived to where he felt the final Yoma soul he was staring at the town hall. Or at least that's what he thought it was, while it might've been a respectable building at one point right now with both door smashed inward the knight could tell either bandits had tried to rob the mayor when things were starting to get bad, or Yoma broke in to get at the last survivors.

Either way he knew that this was probably where the town met its end. Tragic really.

Walking through the ruined door Reden sees the final Yoma holding a boy no older than twelve by the throat with one claw pressed against his temple.

" **Stay right where you are knight!"** It shouted upon seeing him. This gave Reden some time to look over the beast, and he could honestly say it was very different from the others he fought. It was shorter, but it had eight legs like a spider, and each one of them looked to tensed ready to pounce at any moment.

Its hands were long and thin with every single finger ending with a razor sharp claw at the end, moving past its limbs the Yoma's body mainly had height from its legs as its torso was short of somewhat thin and maneuverable. After that its head was somewhat human like yet the eyes were perfectly round, they never seemed to blink, and were able to look in two directions at once.

After getting a good look at it Reden could conclude that it was in fact one of the most hideous things he had seen in a long time. "To be honest I'm pretty sure that even your mother couldn't love that face." Reden says earning an annoyed snarl from the beast. **"Enough! Put your weapon and shield down or else…"** it then makes a point by slowly dragging its claw across the boy's face drawing blood. **"…the boy leaves this town in pieces."** At hearing this the boy lets loose a whimper in both fear and pain.

This makes Reden freeze in his movements, he was the second fastest besides Ornstein, but then again there was a huge gap in power between Ornstein and any of the other knights under his command. So he had to come up with a way to kill the monster without putting the boy in harms way.

Thinking quickly he does as the monster says and puts down his glaive and shield before taking a step back from them. The Yoma smiles, before tossing the boy aside and charges the knight with its fingers turning into what looked like lances.

Deciding that it was now or never Reden channels some of his power into a force miracle. As soon as the shockwave left Reden's hands the beast was stunned for a brief moment allowing him to roll forward in order to grab his glaive and ram it through the bottom of the beast's skull.

And grew a small satisfied smile seeing the blade emerge from the top of its head.

However that was not the most important thing on the knight's mind, quickly jerking the glaive out of the Yoma's head he stabs his weapon into the ground and goes over to the boy.

"Still alive. Thank the gods. Now to leave this damned place." He says putting his shield on his back, his glaive over his shield, and the boy in his arms.

 **Later that Night**

Reden didn't know what to expect when the boy awoke, maybe shock, tears, fright he truly did not know. But it looked as if he would have to wait long.

Looking into the fire he had built then to the food that was being cooked above it Reden smiled thinking about his training days when he was still clad in silver rather than black. The many times him and his comrades would camp under the thousands of stars that shined above the night skies of Lordran, those were truly better times.

Hearing a shuffling the knight, now with out his helm, see the boy stir. As he slowly gets up the first thing he see is Reden still in his armor, and the first thing he does is lock his arms around the knight's neck and sob.

Reden at this point was frozen in awkwardness, he'd never had to take care of child before, and he absolutely didn't how to comfort one. But he tried his best with the boy and eventually he settled down and sat next him.

It was then that the knight got a good look at the young boy, his skin was somewhat tanned most likely from being exposed to the sun, but it could have been natural. Both his hair and eyes were a midnight black and at this point his eyes were red and puffy from crying.

Trying to comfort the young boy Reden tears off a chunk of meat and hands it to the boy who eagerly devours it earning a small laugh from him. Eventually after both of them had picked the bones of whatever it was he killed clean, the boy spoke.

"Thank y-you!" He says suddenly while holding back another round of tears. Reden actually felt somewhat compelled to offer a bit of comfort, so he rubbed the boy's hair and spoke in a calm and quite voice.

"It's ok. Those beasts cannot hurt you ever again." The boy nodding at those words relaxes a bit before looking the weapon that killed his tormentors. Reden noticing his line of sight picks up the glaive and shows it to the boy. "Want to hold it, go ahead be careful though it's heavy and the blade will cut you if you're not careful." He says warning the boy.

"Don't w-worry, my f-father was the town b-b-butcher, I know how to handle blades." He says no longer shaking as he did when he first woke up. _'Did he just calm down, by holding a weapon? Strange kid.'_

"Well at least you woke cut your self. So tell me do you have anywhere you can go?" Reden asks hopeful that he did.

"No."

Hopes destroyed.

"Well maybe I could drop you off at the next town hopefully there someone will be able to take care of you." Hearing this the boy looks Reden dead in the eyes, "Can I stay with you?"

Reden can see the hope in the boys eyes, he must have become a hero to this boy when he killed the Yoma, great. "Look kid I can't I'm sorry about your town back there but-" The boy then stood up cutting Reden off, "That wasn't my home back there. That beast found me and my father traveling together, we tried to run, but he caught papa by the leg and started to claw at him. I couldn't take seeing that so I grabbed my father's grain scythe that his friend gave him, and I cut the bastard's hand off. After that though the beast only became mad and after he killed my papa he took me as a trophy I was with him for three days before he stopped there for the night."

Reden could tell that this kid permanently had something against Yoma for the rest of his life, and knew it might be a problem for him later. "Look, I'm sorry to hear about your father, but I live a dangerous life. I'm trying to find my way back home, and trust me when I say this, the monster that live in my world, make those Yoma look like insects compared to them." He says with tone of brutal honesty making the boy's eyes go wide.

"I want to stay with you though." He begs again, Reden only shake his head, "It's not going to happen boy, there is a good chance I might die either here or when I make it back home I might still die there. I don't want to risk a boy's life when all he can do is swing a butcher's tool around."

"Teach me then!" The boy yells at him in anger.

Reden only glares back, "And why the fuck would I do that?"

"So I won't be a burden to you, I want to repay you for saving my life, let me be a squire! Isn't that what knights have squires? I'll clean, I'll cook, and I'll train everyday! Please!" He yells again with tears forming in the corners of his eyes. Reden however hardens his own and stares him down.

"Ok say I do train you, what will you do with that training?"

At this the boy pauses before looking up with a new look of determination on his face, "I want to do to Yoma what they do to people." This confuses Reden as he raises a brow, "What do you mean?"

"I want them to feel fear, not the fear that you or Claymores make them feel when they're about to die. I want them to live in fear everyday that I might be right behind them. I want them to feel like **prey** , like they're the ones being **hunted**! I want to spill their **blood** , make them **bleed** for every human they kill! I want to **slaughter** them all, to protect people everywhere, by wiping them out! I want to be the **hunter** , not the **hunted**! After I'm grown up I'll teach others just like you'll teach me, I'll help others by allowing them to help themselves!" He shouts panting after growing furious just thinking about what Yoma do to people everyday.

"Well then, convincing speech there boy, but let me ask you this, what am I to call my new trainee?" Reden asks making the boys eyes go wide.

"Well I guess I'll tell you my name then, my name is Knight Reden of Anor Londo. And who are you?" Reden asks with a smile on his face.

The boy doesn't answer at first, but instead looks to the moon, "Gehrman. My name is Gehrman, future Hunter!"

 **And done!**

 **Well that was fun to write, it gave me an excuse to go back and rewatch Claymore again, so that's always fun.**

 **Anyway read and review please, I always enjoy reading reviews don't be shy to tell me what you think.**

 **Oh and to Loyaltothelegion- I hope I delivered on your expectations for at least one of the Black Knights for now.**

 **Stay Cool**


	3. Bonding

**I do not own Claymore or Dark Souls**

 **Thank you to everyone who has left reviews I'm very thankful for the support.**

 **MEleeSmasher- Sorry, but as cool as it would be to see the Abyss Watcher say face off against Isley I've got other plans.**

 **Loyaltothelegion- Thanks for the lengthy review. And you basically read my mind as to what is going to happen for Gehrman I'm planning to keep Gehrman more as a trainee for a while, but eventually he will become the Gehrman we all know and love.**

 **AltenativeFurtureFan27- Thanks also for the long review. Also don't worry in the coming chapters Canon is about to be shot. And sorry but I plan to keep Gehrman as the only character from Bloodborne in this story.**

 **And to both FinalGuardian and xxOblivionxxx- The Organization has plenty of tricks in store for everyone. But yes they now have a few more problems to deal with.**

"Speech"

' _Thoughts'_

" **Yoma or Awakened being speech"**

' _ **Yoma or Awakened being thoughts'**_

 **Chapter 3: Bonding**

It had been a day or two since Ornstein and Teresa had encountered the bandits in the woods and at the moment both were still walking to what Ornstein assumed was Teresa's next job. However the stark difference between the two titans was while Ornstein held a look of amusement on his face Teresa was beginning to look irritated.

Reason being the little girl who Teresa had saved in Theo was still following them and no matter how long the both of them continued to walk this little girl seemed able to keep up with them, Teresa would give her credit in saying that she was incredibly stubborn at least.

Looking back at her Ornstein frowned a bit seeing that the girl was showing signs of fatigue and borderline heatstroke, he sighed knowing that both his honor and his moral code would cause him to go back and pick her up, which he knew would in turn make Teresa and him get into another argument about what to do with the child. However sensing what he was looking Teresa lets out a sigh, "I'm not going to even bother with arguing at this point Ornstein, I know if I do then you'll use that code of chivalry as your excuse."

Hearing this the Leo knight laughs a bit, "My word that almost sounds like you conceiting to defeat. I expected a better verbal spar Teresa, am I really that irritating or are you loosing your spirit?" He asks with a tone of teasing in his voice.

She glares at him, "Do not take my annoyance for surrender, I still believe it would be best if we left her, she'll only get herself killed following us. And you're one to talk about verbal sparring, seeing as you cannot come up with anything better than your honor as a reason to keep her around." She replies almost snapping at him to which he shrugs his shoulders bit.

This had been somewhat of a ritual between the two armored warriors as more than a few times as they made their way out of the vast forest they often had debates about what to with their young charge. Teresa knew the road they would be traveling on was a popular trade route and that it would not take long for someone to find and properly take care of the young girl if they left her there.

Ornstein on the other hand scuffed at the idea and then pointed out two key points that would leave her in greater danger if she was simply left there. For one they had pissed off an entire group of bandits by killing four of them, and injuring another, and there was always the worst-case scenario that another Yoma would come along and take her prisoner. When he mentioned that she could only nod and sigh as he was right in that being worse than simply traveling with them.

But in the end they really didn't come to any solution and simply allowed the girl to follow them and were somewhat content to see where it lead from there. And at the moment it looked like Teresa might get her wish of the young girl leaving them be, she looked almost dead on feet this point and was swaying back and forth trying to hold herself upright. That is until she fell to her knees from exhaustion.

Teresa looks back at her holding a face of indifference and begins to speak, "I admire you for keeping up with us for so long child, but everyone has their limits. And looks as if you've reached yours." She finishes looking towards Ornstein before walking over to the cliff next to the road and jumping off.

The girl looked shocked that Teresa would so carelessly jump off, while Ornstein knew it was both just a way to show off in front of him and a way to create some distance between them and the girl.

So sighing he only looks to the girl with a sympathetic look before going over to her and picking her up in his arms, she looked at him strangely before the Dragon Slayer leapt into the air, well over the trees.

Teresa then watches from below as Ornstein with the child in his arms drop the entire way down the cliff and land with a resonating boom, kicking up a great deal of dust and leaving a small crater where he landed.

Looking up from his crouched position Ornstein sees that Teresa had adopted a look mixed with what seemed like anger, and annoyance. "Really?" She asks annoyed seeing the girl still in Ornstein's arms.

Standing at his full height the knight looks at the girl and sighs seeing as she was unconscious, whether she hit her head on his armor or if she simply passed out in fear of the height they just fell he wasn't sure. "Yes, look at it this way, if those bandits found her and killed her they could place the blame on you." He says calmly and confidently, making the woman shake her head. "Fine, just make sure she pesters you and not me." She says walking away from the two. This leaves Ornstein to carry and unconscious girl in his arms as he follows the blonde deeper into the forest all the while he could help but smirk seeing her so frustrated at both him and the girl.

"A frown like that doesn't fit on a face as beautiful as yours Teresa, if you're not careful your title of 'Faint Smile' might be stripped." He says with a bit of humor in his voice towards her.

She in turn sent him another glare, something she had been doing a lot of lately, only this one seemed to match his humorous tone in a way as it was not really a glare of hate, more like one of a more playful nature. "Oh really now, I'm sure you've a reputation yourself. A knight like yourself with such dirty armor, you really must be popular with the nobles, always ruining their carpets, really they must be expecting a knight shining in his armor." She retorts seeing all kinds of marks covering his armor from scorch marks, small dents, and one or two of the pointed ends of his armor being bent.

This however only makes the Dragon Slayer release a throaty laugh that seemed to ring among the trees, "Oh Teresa! I didn't think you were so naïve, a true knight does not shine in his armor. There is an old saying I'm sure you've heard, a knight in shining armor is a man who has never had his metal truly tested. I carry these scars on both my person and my armor as trophies and reminders of battles I've fought through. And I hold them dear as ways to remember those that did not survive those battles." He says solemnly at the end somewhat brining the mood down a bit.

Teresa not wanting this kind of mood to hang around she quickly looks to the girl and takes an exaggerated sniff of the air. Before walking up to Ornstein, confused as to what she was doing the knight doesn't fight back when she puts her own arms underneath the child and picks her up.

"What are you doing? Ornstein asks her as Teresa walks a bit further ahead of them, before casually tossing the child over the edge and into the pond that they were next to them.

Ornstein was about to jump in thinking the girl was about to drown however Teresa out an arm out to stop him, "Have some faith in the girl, she might be annoying, but she is not helpless." She says as said girl emerges from the water. Unknowingly Ornstein seemed to release a sigh seeing as the girl was unharmed.

Looking to them the girl was confused along with Ornstein as Teresa simply took a seat and began to take off her armor leaving her in only her skintight grey suit. "You're lucky to be alive. The water seems clean enough for drinking, dehydration was as much the reason for you being unconscious as this one," she points her thumb at Ornstein, "holding you too close to his armor when he jumped off." She finishes leaving Ornstein to blush slightly in embarrassment.

He hasn't carried passengers in a very long time, and even then the one he did carry often was much stronger than this little girl.

"Anyway, you're starting to smell like a corpse, the sent of blood both Yoma and human is thick on your body, and its been making me gag ever since we left the village. So scrub your skin and clothes clean, I want you smelling like a flower when you're done." She says to the girl who only nods her head before doing as she was told.

When she removed her shirt both Ornstein and Teresa couldn't help but notice the scars that lined her back

"Poor child." Ornstein says plainly while the girl washed her shirt.

Teresa looks over to him as he took a seat leaning against a tree somewhat close to her, "You'd be surprised how often that happens." She says suddenly getting his attention, "Most people that are taken hostage by Yoma are often in the same state as this girl. The people are often too afraid to even talk to those that have been with a Yoma, in fact sometimes to accuse survivors of being Yoma themselves, it doesn't end well after that." She says solemnly knowing that it indeed did happen often around the island.

Ornstein only clenched his armored fist, "But still have these people have respect for those who have been harmed? She is only a child, yet they did not even have the decency to wash her. Children should not carry those kinds of scars." He says angrily at the end

Teresa doesn't immediately respond to him and only takes a look at her now scared back, before glancing at the two large scars on Ornstein's face. "That only shows where trust can lead you." She says somewhat bitterly at the end making the male of the group raise a brow.

However before he could ask as to what she meant she looked to the girl again, "There's food as well. When you're finished you can have some of it." She says to her.

Ornstein then watched as Teresa went and picked the largest apple the knight had ever seen and gave it to the girl. True it would have been easier to just pull some food out of his bottomless box, but this act of kindness from Teresa was somewhat sudden, but it was welcomed by both him, who thought she was finally opening up to the girl. And the little girl herself who began to happily eat the apple.

' _How in Izalith do the apples grow so large?'_ Ornstein asked in his mind while staring at the fruit that was bigger than his own head. He then just quietly sat there and watched as the child ate at a furious speed, telling him exactly how hungry she was after all she had been through. However seeing her just all the sudden stop makes him raise a brow. _'What is she doing?'_ He thinks before she stuck her arms out towards Teresa offering the apple to her.

Teresa not really expecting the girl to do this dawns a look of surprise, but it was quickly replaced by a small smile on her lips, "This food is all for you. I rarely eat that much so go ahead." She says calmly surprising the girl, and unknown to her made the knight of their group smile at her kind act.

The girl however wasn't really convinced and still held the apple in front of her, before her eyes then shifted to Ornstein who was still simply leaning against a tree. He grinned a bit, "No need to be concerned over me child. I do not need food at the moment, and if I did I'd get my own. So finish your meal, you'll need it for the journey tomorrow." He finishes before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep.

Teresa doing the same lays on her back and folds her arms behind her head for some support, "Here's the plan I will take you with me as far as the next village. It's clean that you would die on your own, but I suppose our knight wouldn't let that happen." She says opening one eye to see if Ornstein had reacted at all.

"Now get some rest of the journey tomorrow, we've got quite a long hike ahead of us." She says, however seeing the girl's look of concern on her she tries to ease that concern, "Relax I promise not to leave while you're sleeping. And even if I did **he** would catch up to me." She says nudging her head at Ornstein who let out a small laugh.

 **Later that night**

Ornstein at the moment was still deep asleep, but something in the forest kept him from truly resting, something that he knew, but yet couldn't remember. He tried his best to remember the feeling, but he just could not recall the exact feeling, all he knew was that it had a sinister purpose. Hearing a low rumble coming from the forest to his left Ornstein slowly gets up and grabs his spear.

Teresa also heard the noise but chose to let Ornstein handle it, after all anyone who could make her actually tap into her true strength no matter how minute the amount was a force not to be trifled with. So she let him wander off confident that it was at most another group of bandits.

And so Ornstein looked around always on guard and prepared for whatever maybe lurking in the dark. And the more he looked the more intense these feelings of familiar power came to his mind. He knew there was something in the forest that had made it's way from Lordran into this world. But it was somewhat different, not completely dark like that of the Abyss, but it was of a less than noble nature that he knew for sure.

Looking around Ornstein found a great open field, this is where the feeling originated from, and it only served to make the knight of Gwyn even more on guard. If it was from Lordran then it would not be friendly towards him.

He knew the souls of Silver knights and Sentinels by heart and this was not them, yet it was not a demon, thank Gwyn, but it was sinister in nature.

Drawing closer to the center of the field Ornstein steadily felt it grow slightly stronger, an item perhaps?

Looking around on the ground Ornstein had to pick his way through the grass to find it, but he found was worse than what he ever imagined.

It was a cracked Red Eye.

' _Darkwraiths!'_ He says in his mind absolutely disgusted and furious at the find. _'If there is one here, then….oh gods.'_ He shudders even trying to think of what these despicable monster would do if they ever came across a town.

No one would be safe, men, women, children, anyone that was human is at risk.

Ornstein quickly picking up the orb and placing it into his bottomless box, he then tries to sense if anything else was near, or in the worst case if a Darkwraith had already used the orb and had gotten away.

Fortunately it seemed as if only the orb was to be found as there was no sign or trace of anything else appearing from in the field. However this did nothing to calm the Dragon Slayer down at all.

' _If this is the work of that pendant that sent myself and the others here, then what else could it have sent through? Damn it this is bad enough as it is right now, this world has its own monsters already, and I can only pray that my world's monsters did not make their way here as well. Or else it will only bring destruction upon this world. I need to find a way back, and fast.'_ He says walking back to camp now convinced he won't be able to sleep for a few days.

He then makes his way back to camp and leans against the same tree that he had before, but before even trying to sleep he looks over to both Teresa and the still unnamed child, _'No wraith will ever harm you, I will find a way to close this gap, hopefully before anyone dies. This I swear on my honor as a knight.'_ He vows to himself before he looks to the night sky.

 **Meanwhile**

Many miles away another visitor from Lordran was also looking into the stars as he ran a hand through his curly brown hair, this was Victor the archer of Ornstein's company.

In front of him lay a small village he had been staying in for the past two days, the people were kind, but they were skeptical of him. Most would be seeing a knight such as himself casually walk into town with both his helm on and his sword coated in a thin sheet of purple blood.

He had killed a Yoma before making his way into town, and unsurprisingly what with a horned helm, a sword over his shoulder, and the fact that he stood taller than any other man in the village they were naturally afraid.

But after some time they began to lower their guards around the knight. And for that he was grateful. They gave him shelter and in exchange he would see if anything in his bottomless box was worth anything to the people. Surprisingly they were quite happy with some of the gold coins he had on him. But he really did not care for those coins as in Lordran the currency was souls.

And now here he sits atop the town chapel to the twin goddesses admiring the night sky, while his mighty greatbow and arrows leaned against the wall with him. If he was honest though being in the town was a bit restricting as there was no place to practice his archery, simply because the sound his bow made when he releases an arrow would frankly, scare the townsfolk.

Archery was his pride and it was what made Gwyn recognize him as an elite knight, worthy of traveling with him to the First Flame. However since then he has had no time or enough distance to really use his bow.

The few Yoma he had killed since he has been here had all been with his sword, and while he knew that he would be using his sword more often than not, he really did miss the feeling on unleashing his greatarrows onto the poor fools who opposed his Lord.

Looking down he sees the night life of the village, the guards of the town standing at attention, the prostitutes trying to seduce those that pass the brothel they worked at, and of course the tavern where most went at the end of a long day.

But there was something that caught his eye, two people headed away from the town, and only one of them was human.

Taking a closer look Victor could see that of the two there was a man and a woman, the man was obviously drunk and in the state of his pants were any indication, very happy to be in the company of what he though was a woman. However the woman on the other hand is what drew Victor's attention. She was Yoma.

It was easy for the knight to see as he and the others could feel souls within everyone, and the soul of a Yoma was very distinct. Often when a Yoma drew on their power a low layer of purple leaked off their form. And even if they were disguised, like this one, it was impossible to truly hide the nature of your soul.

Victor frowned knowing what would happen if he let them escape, and so deciding it was time to try his aim once again the knight draws a single arrow from the group next to him and plants his bow into the roof.

Placing the arrow on the drawstring Victor tenses drawing the arrow with little to no effort and takes aim at the flirting Yoma. He held steady as he waited for the right moment to release, he then sees the beast move away for a moment and that was when he struck.

With what sounded like a thunderclap, Victor fired his arrow. And it soared faster than the eye could see, it didn't take more than a second for the arrow to find its mark.

In a violet explosion of purple blood and body parts, the arrow found its way through the top half of the Yoma tearing her nearly in half. The young man for his part did nothing but stare in shock for a moment, before vomiting, then he started screaming.

And unfortunately this began to attract attention.

Hearing some of the man's frantic and frightened screams everyone in both the brothel and the tavern came to see what was happening and had a look of horror on their faces when they saw the Yoma blood covering the ground and the building next to them and the massive spear-like arrow that had completely destroyed disguised beast still standing proudly in the ground.

Everyone then began to look around frankly trying to see who could've done it, and then they saw Victor.

He was still atop the chapel, but with the moon on his back, and greatbow in his hand he looked like something straight out a legend. Everything seemed too surreal for the people of the village, a knight with armor-scorched black, a bow the sounds like thunder, and someone able to kill Yoma without them ever having to shed their disguise.

It was almost as if the goddesses had given them a champion to protect them.

However at the moment their champion was currently aiming a second arrow towards them, and before they could begin to panic a second thunderous boom was heard as a second arrow struck a Yoma hidden among the crowd.

The people now all-sweating greatly all look to the moon-covered knight and shake in fear as he leapt down from the chapel landing in front of them. It was quiet for a few agonizing seconds as the people all looked up at him holding their breath waiting for what was to happen next.

However the knight simply and politely moves through the crowd in order to retrieve his two arrows. Placing them back into his bottomless box the knight turns to find them still staring.

Sighing he puts his bow away and looks to the owner of the tavern, "Well then, I do hope a meal free of charge is not asking too much? I'm starting to run out of gold coins to pay you with." He says plainly while the people were slightly less put off by him.

This however was interrupted as the portly owner of the tavern let loose a boisterous laugh, "For our Midnight Archer a meal is nothing compared to what we owe you!" He shouts getting others in the crowd to start smiling at the knight who was now very confused at the reactions people were giving him.

As the owner and he made their way back to the tavern the knight was assaulted with both praise and questions.

"You're amazing!"

"Where'd you learn to shoot like that Victor?"

"Where'd a bow like that even come from?"

"Those bastard Yoma are going to be in a big surprise when the Midnight Archer shows up!"

"Come by the brothel, I'll be sure to reserve a girl for our hero."

That comment however made the blue-eyed knight blush. Even in Anor Londo where the women were literally goddesses, or half goddesses Victor had always been reserved among those of the fairer sex. Not like one axe wielding knight he knew.

Now while on the outside Victor wasn't reacting to the praise on the inside he wasn't really sure how to react.

As a Silver Knight he was never expecting glory, as that wasn't why he had joined their ranks, doing great things such as slaying dragons, demons, and other monsters of Lordran was really just part of what being a Silver Knight was like.

In all the many years of him killing things that would give most men nightmares to the point of madness, the only thing that had made him somewhat famous was his habit of collecting his arrows rather than having the blacksmith forge new ones.

And even then that was more or less a joke among the other knights.

But now…these people aren't used to things such as wyverns, demons, or Gwyn forbid dragons, so killing a few Yoma was something to be considered impressive.

Which was very boring when Victor though on it, these Yoma were not a challenge at all, well the few that he's killed were no challenge for a knight like him.

He was one of a few thousand chosen to accompany Gwyn after all.

Maybe he could enjoy this for some time, it was a nice change a pace instead of killing whatever Izalith spit out. Damn demons.

 **Morning (With Ornstein)**

When morning came Ornstein slowly opened his eyes to see Teresa's retreating form as she headed into the woods. Seeing that she was gone and that the child was still asleep the Leo knight removed the Red Eye from his box and took a closer look at it, he could feel it calling to him, like that of a seductive voice in his head.

Pillage

Kill

Destroy

Shaking his head of those thoughts he scuffs before placing it into his sack again, putting it out his mind for now. After all he would rather take his own life than invade another world, Lord knows what could happen if he did.

He then sat there for a moment before rising to his own feet and stretched getting a satisfying cracking noise from his shoulders and back. He then placed his spear onto his back and began to make his way down to the small pond a short walk away from their camp.

Not too long after this the child woke up and franticly looked around for either Teresa or Ornstein. But after not finding either of them, she looked down where Teresa had made a fire the night before and was almost about to cry.

Thankfully for the girl Teresa emerged from the forest not a moment later holding a rabbit in her hand, "I caught a little something for your breakfast. Hungry?" She asks not really paying attention to the girl who at this point was smiling so much it almost hurt her cheeks, all from simply seeing her again.

"I forgot how much of a pain being human can be. Having to eat two or three times every single day just to function." She says somewhat glad that she wasn't one.

However she brought out of these thoughts when she felt the child wrap her arms around him waist and cling to her as if she was going to disappear if she let go.

Teresa could only look at her in confusion, "What's this? Stop that." She says somewhat stern but with an undertone of general confusion as to why the girl clung to her. However the small whimpers the child let out were enough to tell her why, "Silly girl, didn't you hear me when I said I wouldn't leave you while you were sleeping? I am always truthful because I have no need for deception. So you can trust me to speak honestly with you. Got that?" She asks, only for the girl to bury he hear into her stomach and nod, still not letting go of her.

And this is what Ornstein came across as he made his way back with multiple canteens worth of water in his bottomless box, "So you are capable compassion. And here I thought the only expressions you had were annoyance and mockery." He says in a joking tone only to quickly receive a fierce glance from her, "Perhaps I spoke too soon."

Now with all of them ready to leave they quickly got into somewhat of a formation when they walked, Teresa in the front, the child in the middle, and Ornstein bringing up the rear.

And for the most part the only real danger they faced was when the child almost fell off the Cliffside when the ground beneath her gave away, but Teresa had quickly snatched her out of the air.

It wasn't until they made camp later that night and the girl fell asleep that Ornstein and Teresa really spoke to one another as they were both content to really just walk in silence the whole day.

"She sleeps like the dead." Ornstein says offhandedly looking towards her sleeping form. At this point he had removed his own armor like Teresa and only had his own version of her skintight suit, only his was in black.

"Not surprising really, the pace we've been keeping is hardly fit for a small child. But she's a very unusual girl from what I've seen." She says making Ornstein look towards her, "How so?" Asks the knight.

"Well for one she has remarkable endurance for one so young, but what I've been wondering is why she has followed us with this level of stubbornness and resolve? After all, she could have chosen a much more suitable companion. Following me will only bring her grief." She says somberly and seriously at the end.

"I don't think she has chosen as poorly as you believe." Ornstein says suddenly making the Claymore raise a brow, "I don't see how, a human would have provided her a proper bed at least. I on the other hand can barley give her food and water was given to her only because of you."

Ornstein thought it over a bit reflecting on her words, and before Teresa could go to sleep he spoke up one last time. "You can at least try though. You are all she has at this point, true you cannot give her a bed, and true you are not human. But from what I have seen, you kinder than most who call themselves human. You were the one to save her, and even though you tried to get rid of her, she still felt as if you were her savior. And in a way you were, the town would've most defiantly been hostile to the girl, I clench my hands thinking about what those miserable bandits would've done to her, and you did save her from a lethal fall. So to her you are better than anything she has ever had."

Teresa couldn't help widen her eyes at the conviction in the knight's voice as he spoke, "You talk as if you've taken care of children before." She states making him slowly nod his head.

"I did at one point, though I only ever looked after one child. She was actually somewhat similar to this one, a troubled child, who truly only felt comfortable around myself. To be honest I was treated in the same matter as you, she put me on a pedestal and saw me as this great hero for saving her. Though truly I only saved her because my honor would've been stained had I let her die, she began to grow on me, and before I knew it she was making a place for herself in my heart. Now while I'm not saying the same will happen between you and this girl, you never know what could happen. Just, if it does happen be sure to keep her close, because before you know it, if you're not careful….she'll be gone, and you'll realize the hard way just how much they meant to you." He finishes his voice almost too quiet to hear, but Teresa could hear the pain in his voice, but she knew not to pry at his past, at least not yet.

"Forgive me, but I seem to have grown tired. Goodnight Teresa." He says quickly before going to sleep.

Though after hearing that Teresa was now tore between looking towards either Ornstein or the girl, _'What happened to you bring those kinds of emotions out Ornstein?'_ Though she had only know the knight for a few days, she would call him rather quiet most of the time, only speaking when either making a point, but even then his eyes did most of the talking, making a joke usually at her expense, or when he was just simply trying to have a bit of small talk to break uncomfortable silences.

She could say that she had never seen him truly angry even when he blocked her attempt to kick the girl, or when he killed those bandits, both times it was irritation rather than true anger. This was the first time he had ever seemed emotionally moved though and what surprised her was that underneath all those words was a great deal of sadness. Whatever happened troubled him greatly.

But she decided not to ask about it and rather leave it for later, maybe she would ask him to accompany her for a while after they dropped off the child at the village, he was turning out to be good company, better than she had first thought he could be.

When she first met him in that field in the middle of a storm he had peaked her interest as a warrior, true he had not openly admitted to it, but she knew that somehow he was able to control lightning, move at speeds that rivaled her own, and manifest his own soul just to prove a claim.

Those are things no human could ever do. So that begged the question as to what he was, he wasn't human, he wasn't Yoma, or any kind of mix breed or else she would have sensed him in a heartbeat, he was something entirely new. And that both worried and raised her curiosity, were there others like him? He had asked about some other knights, so there probably was. Where did he come from? And what else might be out there?

Teresa couldn't help but smile thinking of all the new possibilities that this knight proposed.

 **Morning**

When the sun rose the next morning Teresa had awoken to see that Ornstein had gotten up before and had both put his armor back on, and had found some food for the girl. Looking at her the knight dawned a small smile not unlike her own, "Good morning Teresa." He says plainly before going over to wake the girl.

"Child, wake up child, its time to leave." He says to the girl as she began to stretch and bask in the morning sun a bit.

Teresa looking over at the two of them let out a small laugh, "We can't keep calling her child or girl, you know that right?" She asks humorously towards the knight who sighed as he knew that she was right about that.

"Then what do you suppose we do? She can't speak to tell us her true name, and we can't simply make up a new name for her." He says as the girl puts her head against his leg enjoying the warmth of his armor.

"Sure we can." The older woman says simply before she then began to try and come up with a name.

All the while the girl kept trying to grab their attention with her mumbles and half formed words, "Don't strain yourself child, your voice will return to you in time, until then don't hurt yourself trying." Ornstein says to her making her look him in his eyes.

"Clare." Teresa says suddenly, causing the knight of their group to look confused and the girl to actually look quite happy with the name.

"Clare?" Ornstein asks with a questioning tone to his voice. "Yes Clare, like the twin goddesses, Clare and Teresa." She explains, getting the girl to nod her head happily.

"It looks as if you guessed her name right. Oh well I suppose Clare will do." Ornstein says messing her with hair a bit, causing Clare to giggle a bit.

"Well then I suppose this makes me a holy knight traveling with goddesses." The male says with a bit of a laugh in the end making Teresa roll eyes and Clare smile brightly towards him.

"Let's get mover you two!" Teresa shouts leaving them behind a bit to catch up, Clare immediately running to catch up smiles at the Claymore while the knight can only look at them with a smile of his own.

' _She really does act like her. Maybe one day she'll grow up to be like you, now that I remember things a bit more clearly, I'm glad you took after your mother and not your father.'_ He thinks remembering the good times he had in Anor Londo with a child he treaded like his own.

 **Meanwhile**

Far away from the traveling company stood another child drenched in sweat, dirt and a bit of blood. In his hands he held a standard longsword obviously it was too big and heavy for a child like him to hold, but after getting used to the weight he was finding it easier to swing around.

His clothes were torn but he didn't seem to mind as he would be given another pair by the end of the day, or they would be repaired by his teacher.

Speaking of which, "Don't loose focus boy!" Without having any time to prepare himself the boy is then knocked off his feet by a powerful blow to the chest courtesy of large diamond shaped shield.

Barely able to sit up at this point the boy looks over to his teacher, who stood tall and proud in his armor without his helm. Yet this did not mean he pulled any punches when training him, as his glaive rested in his right hand, and his shield in his left.

At this point the boy was really somewhat regretting asking the knight to train him.

Reden on the other looks to the downed boy with a proud smile on his face, "You're getting better. And believe me to show improvement, no matter how small, in only a matter of two days is incredible."

The boy at this point could only smile at the praise, "Come on now Gehrman, get up so that I can heal you." He orders his unofficial squire.

Trying his best to get up Gehrman struggled to do so as his entire body was aching, he had 'fought' his teacher for almost an hour and for a boy of only twelve almost thirteen that was beyond anything one should be doing at that age.

But after planting his sword in the ground to help him stand he makes his way over to Reden who held a small healing miracle waiting in his hands.

The moment he was next to the knight Reden cast the miracle causing a large bright white light to cover a small area around him. Gehrman then watches in amazement as his wounds heal. Thought he had seen his teacher do this before, it was still incredible watching every cut, every bruise, and ache disappear.

Gehrman then looks to his teacher and smiles when the knight leads over to the small fire that had been cooking a small pig for the two of them.

They have been up almost two hours at this point and while Gehrman was preparing himself for one of his daily morning spars Reden had gone and captured a small hog and while in somewhat of a hurry only cleaned it andsimply left the pig cook with no seasoning.

But it was food and Gehrman didn't mind it being a bit bland.

As the two began to eat Gehrman looks over to his teacher and then to his weapon, "Sir, when can I train with a weapon like that?" He ask curious as he wanted to be like his teacher and learnt to use a pole arm, or glaive.

"You're not even close to being ready for any kind of weapon like that. First of all you must master the sword first, when I think you're ready I'll begin training you to use that. But for now you'll learn the basics then, and only then, I'll teach you some sword techniques like guard breakers, or parrying and riposte. After that, and only after that, we'll see about something like the glaive." He says sternly making the boy quickly shake his head.

"Sir, what was your training like?" Gehrman asks curious about his teacher's own training.

That question makes Reden pause for a moment before smiling, "Well I was trained much like you, I went through the basics first along with everyone else. And believe me when I tell you this failing front of our superiors was not something you wanted to do. I actually didn't want to become a spearman at first, I was contempt with just the sword and shield like so many others. But I saw something that changed my mind." He then takes a pause looking towards the fire a bit.

Gehrman now listening intensely leans in a bit to hear better, "I was fighting demons with my fellow silver knights, when out of nowhere we were in the gazes of a monster so huge it stood well over triple my height." This makes Gehrman widen his eyes, seeing as Reden stood well over six feet in the first place.

"It truly was a monster among monsters, it had curved horns and hooves like a bull, and a huge molten hammer in its hands. To be honest me as a fresh out of training grunt, I only stood there in fear as many others either did the same or tried to steel themselves for the fight. But what happened next I never in a thousand years thought would happen, a bolt of brilliant golden lightning rushed over our heads and obliterated the beast's head in one attack. Me and the other knight all stood in awe as we knew of very few that could produce lightning of such quality. So of course we turned to see who had fired the bolt, and low and behold I came face to face with the most powerful man I'd ever had the pleasure of sharing a battlefield with."

Gehrman now was chomping at the bit to ask about this man, "Who was he?"

Reden smiles knowing Gehrman would be able to hold back on asking him about Ornstein. "He was my captain, well actually he was captain of the entire army, and the most powerful knight in it, besides our king. His name was Dragon Slayer Ornstein, or as some preferred to call him later in his career the Leo Knight. That Ornstein is a man who demanded absolute loyalty, but in turn he gave you his all while fighting by your side. He never abandoned men on the battlefields, he often got into arguments against the other gods of our capital. And he was unspeakably powerful. The day I met him I saw him use his famous spear to kill demons that would have been able to step on knights such as myself. After getting back to the capital I decided to try and learn how to use a weapon like his, and while its not able to shoot lightning bolts from the tip it is still an effective weapon that has claimed the lives of more monsters than I could count. And even though I know and have mastered this weapon for a long time now I am still able to use a sword should it come down to it."

"But what the magic you used to stun that Yoma when you first met me, or the healing spell?" Gehrman asks still curious as to what all his teacher can do.

Reden summons a small amount of power into his hand and watches as the child stares in awe. "This is how I'm able to use those miracles, but for others most would need some sort of talisman to cast them properly. And in the future please refrain from calling it magic, believe me I know more than a few clerics and sorcerers that would be willing to give you a tongue lashing for confusing their two very different arts." He says making the boy nod his head.

"Know eventually I might even teach you a few miracles myself. Though honestly I was never the best with them, but its good to have as many tools at your disposal as possible. After all swords and other weapons can be broken."

Gehrman at this point was able to see where he was going and nods his head, but Reden continued, "I guess what I'm trying to say is this, master one weapon before moving on to another, because if you'll never know when your weapon might fail you." He says going back to his meal.

"Sir, what do you think will happen to us? Like what do you plan to do, you told me that other knights such as yourself traveled with you, what will happen should we find one?"

Reden not really knowing how to answer that stares blanking into his food before he ginned, "Well I know what I'm going to do, but it won't happen for some time I imagine. When we do find them, and I mean when we find all of them, I might be able to head home." Gehrman looked a bit nervous when he said that he might go home, but the look his teacher made his drop that nervous frown, "Hell I imagine by the time we do find them, you'll be old enough to become a knight yourself."

Gehrman looking to his teacher with a new found smile then looks to the rising sun. He smiles brightly thinking of the adventure he had in store for him and grabs his sword before he then begins walking away, making Reden raise a brow. "What are you doing boy?"

Gehrman while practicing his stance answers without looking over to him. "I'm practicing Sir, just in case your weapon fails." Reden widened his eyes seeing that boy had already wanted to try and return the favor.

"Well then bend your knees a bit more, or else you'll never be able to rescue me someday." Reden says laughing at the young boy.

 **And Done**

 **So there's chapter three of this story hope you all enjoy it.**

 **Anyway please read and review I always enjoying seeing what you guys think of the story.**

 **Stay Cool**


	4. Breaking Point

I do not own Claymore or Dark Souls

"Speech"

' _Thoughts'_

" **Yoma or extremely dark character speech"**

' _ **Yoma or extremely dark character thoughts'**_

 **Chapter 4: Breaking Point**

 **Near the Southern tip of the Island**

It was a bright and sunny day as a woman who appeared to be in her mid twenties calmly made her way down a popular mountain path. She had light brown hair that flowed down to her waist that was done in bunches, she didn't bother to wear shoes, and by simply looking at the dress she wore, it was easy to see that she was quite wealthy.

So that begged the question as to why a woman dressed so nicely was casually walking down the path without a care in the world?

"Hey, hey, hey. What do we have here?" She hears in the tree line and stops walking as a small group of about four men walk out of the tree line.

"Pretty little thing such as yourself walking all alone. My that should be a crime to let you walk alone, need some company?" One asks with a leer in his eyes as he stared at the jewels around her neck and her partially revealed bosom.

"Yeah don't you know that it's dangerous to be walking all by yourself, what if someone decided to…." he pauses before he and the others positioned themselves around her, "..try to rob you. Tell you what my friends and me are generous how about you could pay us for protection. Say all the jewels you have on you and we protect you all the way into town, you never know what kind of monsters might be out here." He finishes as they slowly move in closer all the while drawing their knives.

"So what'd you say? Want us to protect you?" One asks smugly while the other three laugh. However all of that stopped when they heard the woman herself giggling while she held a smirk on her own lips.

They looked at her confused as her giggles grew louder until it almost a sadistic chuckle, "Oh this is rich. You four imbeciles thinking you could rob me? Good Lord you truly are unlucky." She says before her giggling started again.

This went on for a bit as the four were stuck between anger and confusion, before the one if front grabs her by the dress and gets in her face, "Oh, and tell me bitch, why is that?" He says putting the knife to her throat.

She meets his eyes and he couldn't help but notice that they were a beautiful shade of pale yellow, but something about those eyes set off warning signals in the man's head. However he quickly ignored those in favor of trying to intimidate the woman, but any trace of him trying to be intimidating disappeared with her next words.

"Simply because I already have a bodyguard. Don't worry though, you'll meet him soon."

After hearing this the leader of the group hears a blood-curdling scream, turning the woman in his grip around and putting the knife against her throat. He stares at her supposed bodyguard and nearly pisses himself.

Standing at a height of a staggering 7'1 stood what he would describe only as a devil. The armor it wore was charred and scratched and the helm was solid black with wicked looking horns atop it.

The reason for the scream though was the fact that he at the moment was effortlessly picking up one of his men by the head, and from the looks of it he was slowly crushing his skull.

To add an even greater layer of intimidation the knight had a truly sinister looking greataxe over his shoulder. It was double sided and had a rather sharp looking point between them and the ends of it near the handle curved a bit with what seemed like hooks. And on his back was what a appeared to be a greatshield, (to the bandit at least) and both weapon and shield held the pattern of scorch marks and dried blood, much like the armor.

This giant of a man looks between the three of them still on the ground then to the one in his enormous hand. "What would you have me do with them, my lady?" He asks with his fingers tightening around the axe.

For her part the woman put her fingers on her chin and gave it a bit of thought. "Well they did try to rob me, and one has a knife to my throat, well I guess there's only one thing left to do." She says smiling to the man beneath the armor.

"As you wish, Luciela." He says before crushing the screaming man's head like a grape.

And in the shower of blood that moment of shock was all it took for the knight to be next to the man to the right of his lady. Said man was unprepared as he was effortlessly sliced in half at an angle by a mighty upwards swing of the weapon.

At this point the other two were in shock and were truly terrified, but that didn't mean they ran. To one's credit he throws his knife at the towering Black Knight, and then rushes him with his own hand axe.

However when the knight simply didn't care about the knife that bounced off his armor, and at the sight of the small axe let out a laugh, it became very clear who was about to win the confrontation.

Using his free hand, the knight grabs the man's arm and looks him in the eyes before snapping it like a twig, causing bone to pierce the skin and the man to scream in agony.

He then receives a fierce punch to the nose, breaking it and not knocking him down. Opening his eyes through the pain the thief looks into the seemingly empty sockets of the knight above him raising his axe above his head for a colossal downward swing.

"NO!" The man screams in horror and denial as he watches helplessly before the axe splits his head in two and creates a small trench from the force behind the swing.

The knight then rips his axe out of the ground and turns to the last one holding his charge. "You know how this ends don't you?" He asks smugly to the last one, who was shaking in his boots at this point.

What he didn't see though was that the woman's pale yellow eyes were now a glowing golden color, and that from under the dress emerged a razor sharp, toothed tail that then began to slowly make its way to his throat.

"S-Stay where you are!" He shouts taking a step back, and into the grip razor sharp teeth.

Not even having enough time to scream the man is beheaded on the spot by the woman's tail.

"Damn it I got blood on my favorite dress!" She complains looking at the small bloodstain on the side of her dress. "Meinen, tell me are there any other stains on my back?" She asks turning around showing him that her entire back was covered in blood.

"Just a small one." He says with a deadpan expression. "Honestly my lady why didn't you just let me handle that?" Meinen asks removing his helm to reveal eyes almost the same color as her golden ones, only a shade or two lighter in color, and without the slit in the middle, and ashen-colored hair.

"Because Meinen, the last time that happened, the bastard almost ripped my dress off entirely, and while I know you'd just say, 'you have more at your homes' just remember that it is all about principle." She says before her teeth all grow into large and razor sharp fangs and began to tear open the body of the decapitated man behind her.

"Yes well, just remember that can't exactly recall the principles I once had." He says honestly leaning against the closet tree and casually observed his master eating the entrails of the unfortunate fools who tried to rob her.

"Oh yes I know, you and your amnesia." She says between bites.

Strange though, Meinen could have sworn there was some sort of cannibal in his old land. This was a very familiar scene to him, strange, but after learning as to what his lady truly was there really wasn't a sensation of shock like one would expect. His body didn't react in any way when he saw her true form, perhaps he had seen worse at some point.

Yes ever since he awoke against a mountainside he has not been able to recall any of his memories, aside from his name and his skill with an axe. There were feelings of Déjà vu at times, but even then nothing truly came to mind, however he remembered two key things about himself. One that he was a knight by nature and heart. And two that knights must have a ruler to serve.

And that was how he met Luciela, the so-called Lady of South. True their first time meeting was less than pleasant, but the end results worked out in both parties favor. Meinen found a ruler to serve and Luciela found a servant who could survive one of her outbursts, someone who didn't annoy her to the point where she would kill them, and a fighter to help her against the Man of the North and the Witch of the West, if it ever came to that.

Now while they were at arms for the first few weeks they've been together, what with her need to feed, and his personal code of chivalry. Leave the innocents be, and those who harm others, are not worthy of mercy or pity.

And that led them to this system, many, many bandits patrolled the roads of the south seeing Luciela likes to keep the territory all to herself, meaning not too many Yoma. Meinen thought why not kill two birds with one stone, protect the innocent, and punish the guilty.

"Meinen, hand me something to wipe off with, I seem to have gotten blood on myself." He turns his head to his master topless with a light coat of blood covering her mouth and upper chest.

"You really have to work on eating a bit more neatly, my lady." Meinen says while trying to look away from her breasts, even though they were covered in blood that didn't mean it was hard not to admire the beautiful woman the possessed them.

Quickly reaching into his bottomless box, something he was very glad to have rediscovered in his time here, he removes a small handkerchief and walks over to Luciela who merely rolled her eyes at the comment.

He then hands it to her and turns away in an attempt to give her a bit of privacy, "So then, what shall we do next, my lady?" Meinen asks her while looking over to the other bodies on the ground.

"Well, after we finish up here, I heard that one of my orchards has had a rather large growth in recent days, so it looks like we'll be heading over to that. And after that, I'm not sure what to do after that, there isn't really anything exciting to do. Maybe we should let a Yoma cause some havoc, I might get to introduce my knight to my little sister. What do you say to that?" She asks moving on to the next body.

"To that I say, I look forward to meeting her. But really though why did you have me hand you a cloth if you're only going to dirty yourself again?" He says annoyed while looking towards his razor-toothed charge.

"Well I didn't want you to feel useless just sitting there and watching me eat." She says in return making him shake his head.

' _Still though, I do hope I regain my memories soon. I do not know why, but a part of me knows something or someone is out there looking for me. I hope I will recall if they are friend or foe.'_

 **With Ornstein and Teresa**

At this point in time the unlikely trio of Claymore, Child, and Dragon Slayer stood atop a mountain overlooking the village of Rokut.

Standing there in the morning sun it seemed to illuminate Ornstein more than the other two of the company, what with his golden colored armor and spear.

"That is Rokut, we should be there by tomorrow. That is where we go our separate ways." Teresa says looking towards the girl, now known as Clare.

Noticing the saddened look on Clare's face Teresa speaks up again trying to lift her spirits up. " Now don't be like that, you'll be happier there than you'll ever be with me." She says in a comforting voice.

Ornstein however wasn't convinced that what Teresa said was entirely true. Perhaps humans could give her a better life, but even then life had a way of turning good lives into miserable ones in the blink of an eye.

Clare shakes her head at the thought of leaving the two of them, making Teresa smile a bit at her, "Don't worry we won't abandon you right when we get to town. Ornstein and I will make sure that we find someone who can look after you. I personally won't leave until I know that you're safe, so rest easy." She says making Clare wipe the tears off her cheeks.

 **Later that night**

"So she cried herself to sleep, what an unusual girl? All those tears over leaving me. Even when I could never be the family she needs." Teresa says looking over the sleeping child that was resting against the mountainside with Ornstein by her side.

"I hate to say this, but you don't know that." This causes Teresa to look to the sole male of the group in confusion. "And why do you say that?" She asks him.

Ornstein looked down towards the sleeping girl who was leaning against him, and for a moment Clare disappeared in his mind, and was slowly replaced by another girl.

A girl Ornstein would've been proud to call his own child, a lonely girl clutching the only gift anyone had ever given her tightly against her white fur coated body. Shivering as she slept next to him on stormy nights in Anor Londo.

"Experience, and lets leave it at that." He says quickly, but Teresa was able to see a look of pain cross over his face as he stared at the girl for a moment.

"Well I'm sorry, but whatever family she finds in Rokut, will give her a far better life than I ever could. She'll be fine, and she'll have the life she deserves. It may not be what you want for her, but something tells me even you would provide a better life than I could."

This makes him, "What makes you think living with me would be all that bad, perhaps I live in a grand cathedral with servants at every corner." He says in a joking matter not really letting her know that he did in fact live a palace larger than most cities.

This got a small laugh out of the woman, "Yes because, you of all people would be comfortable living in a palace." She says back to him making him crack a small grin at his own inside joke.

Later that night when Teresa was sure Ornstein had gone to sleep she made her way into the woods. After walking a good distance away from the camp she stopped suddenly and darted her eyes around looking for something.

"So what can I do for you?" She asks into the dark, and out of it stepped out the bandit whose hand she had cut off. He slowly worked his eyes over her backside as he spoke in an inaudible mess of words.

Turning towards him Teresa glares at him, "I knew you follow us, and if you'd seen to your injury instead of stalking us this entire time, your new stump might not have gotten so infected."

Not really getting a reply aside from his obnoxiously loud mouth breathing she then went on, " If you've come to take your revenge on me I suggest you reconsider. Just because I am forbidden from killing humans, doesn't mean I can think of other ways to be rid of you."

This actually makes the bandit laugh a bit, in his own insane fashion, "Oh I know you can't kill me, and I'm not here for a fight." He says looking at her with bloodshot eyes. Before tackling her to the ground, "I'm glad I found you, but don't worry though this little get together is going to be painful and bloody." He says with hungry eyes looking over her.

"You'll get no pleasure in raping me." She says with a small bit of both annoyance and sadness in her tone. "Do you really think I care, this about humiliation. I'll make you live this for the rest of your life, like you've forced me to live with this deformity." He says tearing away at her clothes.

And that point he was monetarily stunned by what he saw, a huge surgical type scar that looked like it ran down the entire length of her body, and looked almost completely untreated.

This made Teresa smile a bit, "What's the matter, don't like what you see?" She asks mockingly towards the one handed bandit.

This however only served to enrage him as he tore away again at her clothes, "Oh I don't worry I can look past this thing, I just want to wipe that smile off your face. The same one you had when you cut off my hand. And I'm going to wipe it off your pretty mouth, you're so damn sure of yourself, don't worry though I'll teach you how to feel like the monster you are." He says only to be interrupted by the impact of a log on the top of his head.

Feeling the blood run down his face the bandit turns to see Clare holding a log in her hands.

Getting up and walking towards her he pulls back his arm and prepares to punch he, only to feel cold steel at his neck.

Looking back he expected to see the silver eyes of the Claymore, but what he found instead were eyes burning red with rage, and that the weapon at his neck belonged to the knight who had killed four others in his group a few days ago.

"If you touch the child, you forfeit your life. I have no qualms, and nothing to hold me back from killing you, vermin." Ornstein says in his commanding tone of voice making the other man go weak in the knees by simply meeting his glare.

He tried to run, but before he could the knight was in front of him in less than the blink of an eye. He is then grabbed by his throat and lifted into the air.

"I never said you could leave. I told you if I ever heard you insult or threaten my companion again I would take off the rest of your arm. And here I find you about to harm a child, and in the beginning stages of violating a fellow warrior. I believe that more than warrants for what I'm about to do to you."

He then drops the man, and faster than he or Clare could comprehend slashed his spear upwards and took off the rest of his injured arm from the shoulder.

The man then lay there screaming in pain, thrashing about as blood shot everywhere, all over the grass, and on Ornstein's boots. He then plants his spear in the ground and removes a small bundle of charcoal pine resin from his bottomless box.

He then walks forward and puts his hand over the screaming man's mouth and holds him down before slamming the pine resin onto the bleeding wound.

Clare flinched at the display as well as the sound and smell of burning flesh filled the air, and hoped to never feel this kind of pain herself. While Teresa on the other hand only watched with a half grin seeing him suffer.

Letting go of him Ornstein rose and grabbed his spear, and watched as he ran off faster than any horse Teresa had ever seen. He then looked to her and reached down to help Teresa up.

"Worthless vermin, still though, wouldn't want you to get the blame for his death." Ornstein says almost to himself. There was a moment of calm before the almost forgotten Clare somehow was able to hug both knight and Claymore at once in a sweeping hug, all while crying.

She cried in between the two of them, and while in close proximity to Teresa's semi naked form, Ornstein did gain a bit of a blush knowing there was really much to cover her.

"What's wrong?" Teresa asks the still crying girl. She then began to open her mouth and what was once impossible to understand gibberish slowly turned into words, "D-Doesn't it h-hurt?" She asks glancing at the scar along her stomach.

At hearing this both knight and hybrid were shocked, "So she speaks," Ornstein says out loud.

"It looks like it hurts, so much." At hearing this Teresa understood completely, "Oh, you mean this scar? It does look bad, but it doesn't hurt as much as you would think. Don't worry about me." She says trying to comfort the girl, however she wasn't buying it.

"But it does hurt, I know because I can see on your face. Even when you smile, I still see it hurting you inside….Your eyes, they, they look just like mine. Like you're scared and alone and you hurt so much and you can't stand it and don't want anyone to know….I know, that was why." She finishes off letting Teresa connect the dots in her mind.

Meanwhile Ornstein somewhat awkwardly stood there somewhat in between an almost parental bonding moment. But after that he knew what Clare meant, _'So you've been comforting Teresa the whole time, and not the other way around. You are indeed a strange child.'_

Again he saw another girl in her place, tears threatened to spill out of her eyes, but she looked to him before smiling, and running towards him, with the doll he gave her swinging freely from one hand, crying tears of joy, before leaping towards him, _'And it seems like everyday you find someway to remind me of her.'_ He thinks and without realizing it lets a lone tear fall.

He then felt Clare's arm, the same one that held him close to the other two slip away and wrap itself around Teresa. Seeing this as his queue to leave he did. And returned to the campfire, all while fighting down memories he hadn't thought of in a very, very long time.

' _Some memories are best left in the past. And being near Clare, I can't help but remember how I let her down. I'm sorry Teresa, Clare, but this is something I never wish to go through again. '_ He then looked at the dying fire and thought about rather to move on and find the other knights, or risk more heartache by simply being near these two.

 **Morning**

When the sun rose both Clare and Teresa awoke to find Ornstein gone. Clare thinking that he was simply off gathering food or water went about her usual morning of eating some fruit and waiting for Teresa to tell her it was time to go.

Teresa on the other hand was worried, she wasn't only paying attention to Clare last night, and she had seen Ornstein's face. And she saw the look of pain that had crossed it, it seemed to be happening more frequently, something happened and now she wishes that she had asked him about it sooner.

He had always dodged any kind of question she tried to ask, but after that she had been somewhat reserved, and now she thought that it was a mistake to be that way. He always said that he had seen something like her and Clare happen, but he had never told them how it ended. Thinking about it she really, really didn't want to think about that.

Was he that upset that she was leaving Clare in the village? Or was it something on his end that kept bugging him.

Either way that really didn't matter as he was so far she could only feel his general direction, and that only meant that he covered a lot of ground in very little time. She might be able to catch him if she really tried, but looking towards Clare she knew it was a bad idea to simply take off and not really tell her where she was going.

So she simply looked towards her and nodded her head. "Teresa, where's Ornstein? Clare asks making the silver-eyed warrior sigh. "Don't worry Clare, I'm sure we'll meet him sooner or later, he's not too far away right now.

 **With Ornstein**

The sun had just started to set and Ornstein sat against a lone tree atop one of the many mountains. He was cleaning his spear at the moment and kept watch for someone, he knew Teresa would come for him, if anything just to get some answers. But he still felt a small group of souls down in the forest, and was still here to keep and eye on them, just in case his suspicious were true.

He then stops in the middle of cleaning his spear when he felt a disturbance in the wind, looking up he sees Teresa, and she was not happy. "Why?" She asked with a stern voice.

It was quite for a moment as silver eyes stared into red before Ornstein reached into his bottomless box and threw something at her.

Catching it Teresa looks at it for a moment and sees that it was a small doll, not any thing special simply just a small doll in the shape of a girl, made of a mixture of cloth and straw.

"So this belonged to the child you cared for?" She asks getting a nod from the man. She walks over to him and sits down across from looking it over. "I'm sorry for your loss." She says thinking the girl is dead.

"No," Ornstein says simply getting a raised brow from the woman, "Excuse me?"

"She's not dead, although at this point she might as well be. She is just…well very, very far away right now." He says in a sad tone making Teresa see just how attached this girl had been to the knight.

"That doll was the first present anyone had ever given her, and after I bought it for her I don't think she would've taken any other gift. She was a lot like Clare, alone and scared at first, give it some time though and Clare, like her will become something incredible." Teresa seemed to smile at that thinking of what Ornstein might've looked like with a small child hanging from his hip and it honestly made her giggle a bit at the thought.

"You make it sound like she was with you for years." Teresa says trying to dig a bit deeper into the man's past.

"She was." He said simply, "I found her scared and alone when she was just a child, she was probably younger than Clare. Now I won't go into detail about who her parents were and why she wasn't the most welcome in Anor Londo, but she really wasn't someone you'd let near you. Her situation was like Clare's or any other children that have been affected by Yoma, shunned and constantly under suspicion everyday."

Teresa still stood there understanding where this was going it was similar to her and Clare, perhaps too similar for Ornstein.

"I found her on one of the many bridges of Anor Londo, she looked like she was about to jump off. And at this point I knew that one of two things were at war inside my head. If I save her I would be saving a child of someone I truly never respected or trusted, but on the other hand she had no control over who her parents were, after all she was only a child of no more than eight. And in the end my code as a knight won, as usual, and I grabbed her arm just as she took her first step over the edge. At first she was shocked, then she became furious that someone had saved her, she pounded her little fists onto my chest plate as hard as she could, then when she tired herself out she latched onto me and cried for what seemed like hours. It was much later, for what felt like the entire day I held her close and let her cry to the point wear she fell asleep. After this I knew I had to at least help a child who appeared so broken."

Ornstein took a breath and slowly a smile dawned on his face, "And before I knew it I was letting her sleep in my bed while I slept against the wall. She awoke told who she was, and what had been happening to her up until that point. Now at first I let her stay with me out of pity, since she was only a defenseless girl. But after some time days turned into weeks and weeks into months, and before I knew it years went by and at that point she was a part of my life, a permanent resident in both my heart and mind. Not a day went by when I thought about how she was doing, or that I worried what would happen if word of her strength got out."

This made Teresa raise a brow, seeing this Ornstein explained, "Well I don't want to tell exactly what her power is or how it works, but all I can say is that she is indeed a one of kind warrior. I taught her how to handle most weapons though nothing really clicked with her until we reached pole arms and from that point on her skill jumped by leaps and bounds." At this point Ornstein dawned a frown on his face.

"But all good things come to an end eventually, one day when I was off at war. Something happened to her, and what kills me is that I still don't know what it was. All I know was that when I returned all I found was a note telling me that she would be safe from those who tried to harm her, and that she would always remember me as a…" He stops when he felt a tear roll down his cheek.

Teresa saw this as well and widened her eyes, she thought that Clare and her were comfortable around one another, she could imagine staying with the girl, for years, then to just suddenly loose her without explanation.

"…that she would always remember me as her father. Or at least the one she always hoped for." It must have truly destroyed him.

Then before he knew it Teresa put a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him, true she had lost fellow warriors over the years, some of them close friends. She couldn't imagine loosing a child.

It was quite for a moment before Teresa looked him in the eyes, "So that's why you left? Because Clare reminded you too much of a daughter you once had?" She asks getting a nod from him. And once again a silence fell over the both of them as the sun slowly went down over the horizon.

All the while Teresa took glances at his admittedly handsome face, though she would never admit to actually calling him that. But every time she looked it wasn't the Ornstein she knew it was a man who couldn't let go of his mistakes, a man who couldn't forgive himself.

And that was not the Ornstein she had come to know, that wasn't the man who she decided would travel with her. This was only a shell of him, and she wasn't just going to sit there and watch.

When Teresa couldn't stand it any longer she snapped, it just didn't look right seeing Ornstein sad in any way, he was this proud and powerful knight, one who she was sure hadn't even begun to show her his true power. So it didn't suit him, he needed to cheer up.

Doing the first thing that came to her mind she grabbed his spear out of his hand and jumped to the other side of the clearing with it.

"Teresa what are you doing?" Asks generally confused by her actions. She glares at him and stabs his spear into the ground. "You can have this back when you prove yourself worthy to use it again." She says seriously making him even more confused.

He thought that this was simply some cheap way to raise his spirits through mischief, and wasn't really looking forward to that. "Teresa, give me my spear." He almost commands her.

Her response was to draw her sword and point it at him, "Come get it then."

And like that both disappeared with what sounded like thunder.

When they reappeared Ornstein had one hand wrapped around the wrist to the arm holding her sword, and the other one blocking a knee from smashing into his gut.

"Is this really what we're going to do? Fight, and me without my weapon?" He asks before she pushes more yoki into her muscles, causing Ornstein to slowly be pushed back.

She then uses her free hand to land a solid punch right into Ornstein's gut making the helm-less knight loose his footing, she then capitalizes on this and flips him over her shoulder and goes for another punch to the face this time.

However Ornstein seemed to know where she was aiming and catches her fist before channeling some of his power into a Force miracle. The sudden shock wave was enough to send Teresa off of him, and in her momentary shock Ornstein was able to vanish from sight and retrieve his spear.

But this wasn't over as Teresa appeared in front of him, her sword already half way to slashing through his side. Seeing this the knight blocks the blade with his own and begins to twist and turn a bit trying to throw her off, but before an opening could be presented she corrects herself and jumps back and gives him her signature smile.

From here both warriors have a bit of a stare down and this only served to make Ornstein angry, "What's the point of this?" He asks her in an irritated tone of voice.

"Haven't you ever heard of stress relief Ornstein? You need to calm down." She before dashing at him dragging her sword across the ground, trying to throw dirt in his face.

His response was to appear behind her and nearly run his spear through her stomach, "You have strange ways of calming down." He says flatly before they clash again spear against sword. This goes on and on as neither seems to really have the advantage.

It was clear though to both of them that Teresa the stronger of the two, but that Ornstein made up for it in speed alone.

After breaking Teresa's guard Ornstein twists spear to wear it was pointing away from Teresa, before he then began to land at least seven clear thrusts with the blunt end of his spear before spinning and lightly drawing blood across her shoulder.

"You sure you want to go on Teresa?" He says to her already knowing what her answer was though. What he wasn't expecting was for the cut on her shoulder to heal in a matter of seconds.

"Well then if you can simply heal yourself, it looks like I can get serious." He says while channeling a bit of lightning into his hands causing golden sparks of electricity to spring to life in the now almost orange sky.

Teresa already suspecting this ability of his pumps more yoki into herself causing a few veins in her head and arms to bulge out her eyes began to take on a golden hue. "Yes indeed it does look that way."

They then move, so fast that the ground under them shatters. Ornstein was the first to attack twisting himself like a screw straight at her. Teresa knew that she was tough but an attack like that was suicide to take on at her current level. So she chose to go leap above it and in position to slam Ornstein into the ground when he passed her.

And by the time he did reach her, Teresa couldn't help as another smile dawned her face. But when she went for the attack Ornstein planted his spear into the ground and was able to use it as leverage and twist his form in order to give Teresa a lightning infused punch to the face.

Not expecting the punch and being in midair Teresa was sent flying from the power behind it, and didn't stop till she crashed through two full-grown trees. Rising out of the ground she grips one of the trees in her free hand and throws it at the Dragon Slayer.

Ornstein focusing on the incoming projectile and brings his spear at a downward angle and slices through the tree like water. What he wasn't expecting though was Teresa to be standing atop of his spear, effectively holding him still.

And that moment was enough for Teresa to smash the flat end of her sword into Ornstein's side. Keeping his stance firm though Ornstein was able to keep poise to which he capitalized by locking his armored arm around the blade, a risky move but he was able to keep her from using it. Using her sword to brace himself along with his poise he was then able to block her follow up punch to his temple. He then channels lightning into his spear, and watches as it travels into Teresa's metal boots.

Feeling it coming Teresa prepared herself for it, and grit her teeth as the lightning struck her from below. However she was ever to fight through it and remain on his spear, using it as leverage as he did Teresa swung both her legs into Ornstein's chest sending him sailing through the clearing.

When he rises she sees that he was now holding her weapon. Looking down with another smirk though she quickly picks up his and points it at him, "Your stance is shit, I do hope you know that." Ornstein says to her making the Claymore shake her head at him.

"Yeah and apparently yours isn't as terrible as I thought it would be." She mocked back to him as they both took off again, yoki against the soul.

When they clashed as a courtesy both of them threw the others weapon in the air. From there both engaged in hand to hand, Teresa was the first to land a blow in the form of a rather sharp elbow to Ornstein's shoulder with a follow up backhand to his jaw.

However the Knight of Gwyn was far from down as he locked up her arm his own and the spun his way around her and put her head first into the dirt, him above her twisting her shoulder.

"You know that I will break it, yield Teresa." He says in a commanding tone of voice. However all he sees is that damned smirk, "Yeah I know, I'll save you the trouble though." She says before a loud sickening pop was heard as Teresa broke her own shoulder to escape.

Completely stunned Ornstein wasn't prepared for the punch to the nose that came from her good arm.

After hitting his back against the tree that was able to catch him, Ornstein smirks before fixing his broken nose. "I'll give credit where credit is due Teresa, that was impressive." He says watching as the Claymore fixed her broken shoulder. "And I thank you for the compliment." She tells him smirking the entire time.

"Now then show what those sparks of yours can really do." She says throwing his spear at him. Moving to catch it Ornstein pole-vaults himself into the air and Teresa watches in mild amusement and amazement as Ornstein summons a bright yellow lightning blot in his left hand.

"Don't say you didn't ask for this!" He shouts before throwing the bolt with the speed of, well, lightning and the boom of a thunderclap. Teresa gladly taking it on unearths a tree that was close by and swings it at the bolt. Only to watch as it exploded in her hands.

"Ok then, don't hit the lightning bolts. Good to know." Teresa said to herself.

Looking to the one who threw it Ornstein chuckled to himself seeing her almost scold herself. "At least you're learning some didn't quite understand that part."

He then charges up another bolt and before she knew Ornstein was laying down a constant barrage of bolts, lighting up the sky with flashes of bright yellow as she ducked rolled and jumped over almost every single one of the possible dozens he had sent her way.

However one did catch her dead center in the stomach making her cough blood. It felt like her insides were on fire after being hit by that bolt. After getting her breathing under control she looks to where the bolt had hit her and finds the area of her suit completely vaporized, the flesh burnt, and no doubt bleeding on the inside.

Pushing yoki to the wound she flinches in pain as the scorched flesh was removed by the incoming new flesh, and was almost done when all of the sudden she felt an armor hand on her shoulder.

Looking up into her opponent's red eyes she saw concern, and compassion defiantly not the sad look in them she had seen before the fight began. This was the Ornstein she knew.

"Here let me help." He says before kneeling next to her, she then saw a small golden light emanate from his hand before a large circle glowing orange, like that of the setting or rising sun, emerged with him at the center. Almost instantly she felt her wounds close, and all she felt was warmth surround her. The burnt and cauterized flesh around the area where the lightning had struck her was now smooth and pale, as if she was never hit by it in the first place. The dull ache in her shoulder that came with healing her wound with yoki disappeared as well.

All in all she was completely healed.

She stared at him in shock before he then suddenly hugged her, both adding to her shock and making her blush a bit both at the suddenness of it and the warmth that he emanated from him.

"Thank you." Was all he said in her ear causing her to blush even more from how close she knew his lips were to it. Though she quickly snapped herself out of it and smiled. "If you're really thankful, then maybe you could do something for me." She says to him making him separate from her and look at her suspiciously.

"What did you have in mind?" He asks curiously to her. She responds by widening her smile, "Come with me." She says plainly making it his turn to blush.

"Think of it, you'd travel around him me and get to keep your ear close to the ground and hear of any news involving the other knights you were talking about. And in the mean time, I'd like the company if you're willing to go?" She finishes letting him decide.

However before he could giver her an answer both of them saw something strange in the distance. Looking closer both of them could see that it was a large trail of dust. Looking even closer both could see exactly what it was, bandits.

Turning to one another they then sprint down the side of the mountain not at all caring that they'd created two fresh craters when they landed.

"Bandits far in the woods, I should've know they'd be after the town from the start." Teresa berates herself for not thinking. "Don't be angry at yourself there was no way you could've known this was the town they'd hit." Ornstein tries to reassure her only for Teresa shout at him, "No this is the ONLY town they could hit. Tucked away in the mountains no one would ever know if they were under attack!" She shouts as they both pick up the pace and begin to run so fast that the world around them begins to blur.

"Why now though!?" Ornstein shouts as he fell back a bit to run alongside her. "There was Yoma in the town, it must've been keeping them at bay. They must've thought the risk of a Yoma was too great of a factor. But now that I destroyed it there is nothing protecting the town, and Clare's in there!" She shouts at him while both of them went even faster.

Ornstein then came up with a small plan to get her there faster, falling back and charging up an Emit Force miracle. "Do you trust me Teresa?" He asks her from behind, turning to him Teresa sees the miracle in his hands and hesitantly nods.

"Alright then when I say jump you'd better jump!" He shouts to her while she prepared herself for what was coming. "JUMP!"

Then with the force of a hurricane Ornstein launched the miracle under her and watched as she went sailing over the trees and into the distance towards the town.

"And now I just need to catch up," he says to himself while channeling lightning into his legs before he exploded off into the distance in an effort to catch up to his companion.

 **With Teresa**

When she landed onto the bridge she knew that things were already bad enough, making her fear the worst for Clare.

When she arrived she found bandits pulling women of their homes, most buildings were on fire, and most of the men were dead in the streets. Approaching them the bandit leader smiles seeing her, "Hey boys look what we've got here! Quite the coincidence isn't it, what with the Yoma destroyed it looks like you're not needed. And since Claymore aren't allowed to be involved in human affairs," he then gestures to the town, "what we're doing here is of no concern to you." He says mockingly as Teresa began to memorize where every bandit within eyesight was located.

"So what is it that brings you before us Claymore, sight seeing? It's not like you can anything about our fun here, think we deserve a spanking?" He says making the others laugh around him all the while no one seemed to notice, that Ornstein was had entered the town.

With his lightning enhanced speed it didn't take him long at all to reach the town, now sporting his frightening Leo helm, then with spear in hand, and fury in his mind he sought out those who'd harm the innocent.

And it didn't take long before he quickly began killing anyone outside of town square in a time frame of about a minute. Every single one of them brutally pierced, slashed, and or electrocuted. No one was even aware that he had essentially become a silent agent of death in the town. Well, no one except the terrified women and children that watched as he killed his way from house to house.

' _Vermin! Scum! Vile creatures lower than any demon of Izalith! May the Abyss take you!'_ He shouts in his mind while glaring at the corpse that was currently suspended off the ground on his spear. Before he carelessly flung it off like trash.

Going to edges of town Ornstein began to evacuate the survivors of the attack, after all he didn't want them to get caught up in what came next.

Back with Teresa she found herself frozen as she saw the same damned bandit as before dragging Clare out of an ally by her hair.

He then turned to her, a look of madness influenced his face as smiled at her, "Hey, so nice to see you. Did you forget something the last time you were here?" He says gesturing at the girl on the ground. "Finders keepers, don't worry I promised to take real good care of her. I mean we're already such good friends, aren't we, my new pet?" He says making Teresa clench her hands in rage hearing him talk.

But he still went on, "I love watching the veins in her when she's screaming, she kept crying 'Teresa, Teresa.'" Then in the blink of an eye Teresa had moved from in front of them to behind the one armed bastard who used to hold Clare.

When her cape fell it revealed that he was missing his other arm. Not really registering what had happened he looks to his hand, " You hurt me witch. Now how am I going to caress your filthy body?" He says before a small line of blood appeared from his mouth, "I'm tired," he says quietly before exploding in a shower of blood.

This leaves everyone, including Ornstein who had just arrived in shock, _'And so it begins.'_ He says in his head, and watched as Teresa's composure snapped entirely.

"Damn you, you rotten bastards. You are worse than Yoma, and all deserve to die for what you've done!" She shouts in rage before turning to Ornstein at the other end of the yard, "There will be **no** survivors. **Each** of you dies tonight."

Ornstein then looks to where a sudden burst of laughter came from and sees the leader of the company leap off his horse and onto the ground holding his sword. "So she's finally lost it, they'll be coming for your head when word gets out you killed a human!" He then draws the weapon and points it towards Teresa, "You'll be slaughtering us that could be? But don't underestimate my friends and I. But you aren't the only one who can handle a weapon! I don't care that you're a Claymore, I couldn't give a fuck if you were a full-blooded Yoma. I'm still going to take off your head!" He shouts slashing at her.

To which she simply, and easily blocks with one motion of her sword. "You're the only one that's ever deflected my first attack. Which gives me a new chance to try a new move I've been working on. See how well you do against, this!" He says bringing his sword upwards before sending the chained blade down towards her.

And once again an attack that was easily dodged. But when the dust settled in her place stood Ornstein. The boss of the company looks to the knight in confusion before smiling.

"So this is the knight that promised to kill everyone of us a few days ago. What the matter scared I'll kill your whore." He mocks Ornstein who simply ignored him and looked around at all the dead people of the town.

"Teresa you've already proven your point and killed a human, its best you go now." Ornstein says in a deadly serious tone of voice making Teresa look at him in anger, "I promised that they would all die tonight I intend to make that promise a reality." She says.

"Teresa, trust me I will uphold that promise. But please, what I'm about to do, is not something you should be here for. I know you would survive, but Clare will not. This entire town will be turned to ash. Everyone in it will only be dust left to be blown in the wind." Teresa looked to the man still proudly swinging his sword around and then to Ornstein who had a cold look of murder in his eyes. Seeing that they were to die either way she began to make her way out of the town.

Before she disappeared and killed the three men blocking her path, just to reinforce her point.

Once he was sure she was out of range Ornstein looks to those left in the square and gains a look of absolute fury in his eyes.

However the leader chose to fight him rather than let the oncoming feeling of dread get to him. "So you think you'll be able to save your little whores from us. After we kill you they'll be next." He says swinging his Falcon Sword towards Ornstein who merely turns his body and lets the blade pass him.

This continued for some time with the bandit growing ever so angry at the fact that his attack were so effortlessly being dodged to the point where he lets out a war cry and sends an attack akin to a simple thrust.

And to the shock of him and the rest of his men, Ornstein caught the bladed tip, and wraps it around his hand. "Like she said no one will survive this night."

The leader then felt his arm clench around the grip of his sword, and in panic tried to let go only to find that he couldn't. It was then that he felt the pain. Unspeakable pain.

Screaming in agony the leader began to spasm as everyone else was able to see small sparks of lightning that quickly grew into rather large bolts of electricity being sent through the chain of his sword.

All the while the electricity increased, and the leader only kept screaming, soon his voice broke and it was only more silent shouts and gasps of pure pain in his eyes. The knuckles of his hands began to bleed they were clenched so tight. Blood soon poured out of his mouth, nose, ears, and eyes. This began to spread fear among them until the lightning once again grew in size, and before anyone knew what happened the boss' eyes popped out of his head.

And then to top it all off the man who lead them, completely exploded in a red shower of blood and liquefied organs. Those closest were covered and quickly emptied their stomachs at the sight and smell of boiled blood.

They then turn in horror as the golden monster in front of them raised his hand to the sky and summoned a bolt of lightning golden in color, and longer than he was tall.

Panic set in as they tried to run, only for them to run into a straight into a wall of fog.

"No one leaves this place, now perish." He says quietly before he brings the bolt down onto the ground.

And in a single moment, a flash of gold, and the wrath akin to a god…Rokut and any poor soul that was not evacuated turned to ash.

 **With Teresa**

From her spot almost three miles outside of the town atop a hill, Teresa could feel the power radiating off of Ornstein, and it was intoxicating just to be near. It was akin to releasing her own yoki, but strangely warmer in context, she felt both drawn by it and mesmerized by it at the same time.

Then it happened, in a flash of light so bright she had to shield her eyes, the power that had been built up was unleashed, and it was absolutely insane.

When the light died down Teresa uncovered her eyes, and where Rokut once stood now only a crater remained to show where the town once was. _'Incredible.'_ Teresa said in her mind.

She then waited for a moment as the knight who had caused all the damage made his way towards them. His armor didn't look any worse for wear, in fact it held a certain glow to it that only made him stick out among the darkness that had fallen over the mountains.

Looking to him Teresa couldn't contain her shock, she assumed he was powerful, but this was something else entirely.

He was just full of surprises, wasn't he?

When Ornstein finally made his way to her he removes his helm and looks at the still unconscious Clare in Teresa's arms, "Well then, with done what do you say about getting moving? I don't like being around battlegrounds for long."

Teresa nods at him and smiles seeing as he wasn't going to be leaving any time soon. And then the two of them move along, however neither one of them even bothered to notice the cloaked individual hidden among the trees.

' _So it finally happened, Teresa of the Faint Smile has taken a human life. I'm sorry but there are no exceptions to the rule, not even for our finest warrior.'_ He says in his head watching as the trio walked off into the night.

' _And what truly amazing power your companion possess, I can only wonder what else he has in store for us. After all it is truly amazing to see the power of one who is called the Dragon Slayer.'_

 **And Done**

 **Alright then, now we're getting into the good stuff.**

 **So anyway don't forget to Read and Review please. I can always use the feedback, I always appreciate them.**

 **Stay Cool**


	5. Reunions

I do not own Dark Souls or Claymore

"Speech"

' _Thoughts'_

" **Yoma or Dark Character Speech"**

' _ **Yoma or Dark Character thoughts'**_

 **Chapter 5: Reunions**

It was early in the morning near the plains to the middle of the island, and basking in the rising sun stood two people. One of them stood tall and proud in his armor with his shield on his back and his glaive resting over his shoulder. The Black Knight, Reden

The other was struggling to walk as he appeared to be slumped over and breathing was beginning to grow difficult. The boy who had become the apprentice of said knight, Gehrman.

"Sir why am I carrying all of this? Would it not be easier to put this into your bottomless box?" The younger of the two asks while he tries to take his mind off the burning in his legs caused by carrying an absurd amount of gear, and most of it wasn't even his to begin with.

Turning around to face his trainee Reden gives him a look and almost laughs, Gehrman had no idea what he was going to be like after this.

There was a very good reason why the undead were able to become so powerful; since they were dead there were no limitations on what there body and mind could do.

With their death came a release of conventional fighting, in life they were mortal and were bound by what their soul could become as a living human. After death they can both go hollow and with it allow that process to stagnate, or they can work and through souls increase their potential.

Only problem was Gehrman is still very much alive so he would have to find another way to increase the boy's power. But until then he would push his body to the limit, past said limit, and then simply heal him and do the whole process again. He only hoped that there was another way to gain the powers of an undead or other soul based beings like him and the other knights.

"The reason you're carrying it all is because I need you to grow stronger, the techniques I plan to teach you are extreme and you will need ample strength to use them. Your dexterity is doing quite well, but you are lacking in endurance and strength. So this is to increase both. Carrying the gear and a few extra items I pulled out of the box will serve nicely as a way to begin your process of gaining the skills required to properly become a knight."

Hearing this the boy only glares now understanding why it felt heavier than the last few days. "If you say so sir." He says with strain in his voice.

Shaking his head at hearing his tone the knight pulls out a small plant with green leaves on it, confusing Gehrman as to why. "Boy put the gear down and follow me." Reden says suddenly.

So doing as he was told sets the gear down in the middle of the field and follows his teacher. He then sees his teacher stop and finds himself staring at a huge boulder, not really understanding as to why, he turns to look at Reden.

"Uh…so why are we staring at a rock?" He asks very confused. Reden smiling at him with something he could only label as cruel intent hands him a simple steel straight sword. "There is no we, you on the other hand are going to take this sword…"

He then walks over to another smaller stone and faster than Gehrman could see slashes downward at it and watches in amazement as the rock was split in two. "…and try to break the stone."

Seeing how the younger male was looking at him Reden hardens his gaze, "And you are to not stop swinging that sword until it breaks, the stone breaks, or your arm breaks." He says in deadly serious tone before leaving. "After something breaks, only then are you able to return to camp. Use the plant by your sword to replenish your stamina much faster, trust me it'll help. Oh and by the way, I'll know if you give up early. Fail to break something, and I will break something for you." He says before walking away leaving his apprentice wide and fearful eyes.

Seeing his master's retreating form Gehrman stares at the rock as tall as he was, then to the sword, and then finally to his arm. _'He expects me, a boy not even thirteen to break a sword, a rock, or my arm. What the hell kind of training is this!?'_ He shouts in his head before looking to the plant on the ground, then to the sword in his hand.

' _Might as well get started.'_ He says with some confidence. He then goes for the first strike and just as he expected the sword struck, spark flew, and his arm recoiled. This was going to take a while.

But he kept at it, for hours taking a breaks when he desperately needed it, though he had yet to consume the plant his master had left him.

He looks up into the midday sun and knows he's beginning to become sunburn, it didn't help that he hadn't eaten or drank anything since the early morning start and it was starting to take a toll on him.

Looking to his sword still clenched tightly in his right hand Gehrman couldn't help but glare, he was silently cursing the blacksmith who forged the sword. Seeing as it barley had any chips.

Seeing as now would be a good time to find food, he began to wonder. Reden said not to come back to camp, he didn't say anything about exploring the surrounding fields or woods.

Sure enough it was easy enough to find a small stream of water, and with water came berries and some fish.

After recovering some of his strength Gehrman returns to the same rock and was about to start swinging again when he remembered the plant.

Figuring that it was better to try it, rather than find out the hard way that it would've helped. He bites into the leaves of the plant and he recoiled at how bitter the taste was.

"Well that was worse than I thought it was going to taste." He says to no one before looking to the rock again. Then with a renewed vigor began to throw everything he had at it.

Every slash he swore he could hear a muscle tear in his arm or shoulder, every thrust he threw at it made his chest recoil at the sudden stop of the blade. Eventually though he began to hasten his speed, as if he wasn't growing tired at all.

He eventually grew a large grin on his face before winding up for a huge upward slash. And with all the confidence in the world he tensed his back and shoulders for a bit of extra power behind the swing.

But what he wasn't expecting was to recoil in extreme pain when he felt his shoulder come out of its socket.

"AHHH! FUCK!" He shouts in pain and quickly puts pressure on his injured shoulder. Looking at the rock he scuffs seeing a small chip in the stone, he then grits his teeth before slowly moving back to camp.

When he arrived he found Reden simply sitting under a tree reading a book. "Uh sir, I've…uh…broken something." He says to him still holding his shoulder in pain. Looking up from his book, the elite knight of Gywn stands up and walks over to the boy. He then casts a simple healing miracle that heals the boy's wound and even the sunburn skin on his arms, legs, and neck.

"Now then, get back to your training." He says simply before going back his book. Gehrman on the other hand was not too happy to hear that, "Surly you can't be serious sir, I've already broken my shoulder. Wasn't that the goal to break something?" He asks curiously.

Looking at him with his steel-colored eyes the knight shakes his head, "No, that is not your goal. All you've down is injure yourself, and if you break the sword all you've down is break your equipment. Both of which will kill you in a battle. Now unless you have another question get back to your training." He says before going back to his book.

Gehrman could only nod before almost sulking back to the boulder where he left his sword. _'Break the rock and not the sword or myself, easier said than done.'_

And so he kept at it until the boy fell asleep from exhaustion, and even then it wasn't until the darkest hours of the night.

 **With Ornstein and Teresa**

Ornstein knew this would happen eventually, both Teresa and the bandit leader had foretold it. The Organization had sent their warriors to deal with Teresa for the act of murdering humans.

Even if he was the one to do most of the killing, she still had taken the lives of multiple humans.

So here they stood in the middle a desert at some odd hour of the night with Teresa surrounded by five warriors and a handler that stood in the middle of two of them while staring at Teresa and occasionally glancing at Clare and the Dragon Slayer on the opposite end of the small circle.

At this point in time Ornstein had changed out of his armor in favor of his traveling clothes and the greatsword he had bought at Theo, and he was currently standing behind Clare while keeping a hand on her shoulder to keep her from running into the fray and getting herself hurt.

But for some reason he was somewhat suspicious of the looks the man in black kept sending his way. He would have expected a glare, but instead he received looks of curiosity. And it was scary close to how some of Seath's assistants looked as they worked themselves half to death in their pursuit of knowledge.

Knowing this was only going to go one of a few ways Ornstein tensed his free hand and twitched his fingers in preparation to draw his sword in any of the warriors were to make an attempt at him, though he doubted that slightly.

They were here for Teresa, not him.

The second possible outcome would be Teresa simply denying them an execution and they simply let her deal with them. Ornstein knew she was more than able to do so as he had sensed them before they even revealed themselves.

But at the moment he was thinking it would lean towards the latter, Teresa still had that smile of hers and he knew she was one to give up so easily.

It was quiet for some time before the man in black spoke up, "You have betrayed The Organization, Teresa." He says with a stern and cold voice. At hearing it Ornstein frowns, this was an all to familiar situation for him.

As the captain of the entire army, leader of the Four Knights, and with the absence of his son, right hand to Gwyn, he had performed a few executions in his long lifetime.

Killing those who sided with Gwyn's traitorous son, deserters in battles against the Abyss and the monsters of Izalith, and more than a few rouge knights and sentinels that thought themselves better than him. Fools tried to create an uprising, needless to say those never lasted for very long.

But now on the other side of the spectrum, seeing someone he knew and cared for about to be executed, well to be honest he would much more alarmed if he didn't know how strong Teresa truly is. So that takes the nervousness away mostly.

Teresa not really caring about the fact that her fellow warriors surrounded her simply turns to looks at the handler, "Yes, yes get on with it already." She says in bored tone of voice.

Clare on the other hand stared to freak out at the thought of loosing her and begins to struggle in Ornstein's grasp. "You can't do this, she saved my life! Let go of me!" She shouts at the man behind her only for Ornstein to shake his head with a stern expression somewhat making her sit still.

Teresa however merely stood there with her eyes closed, "This is not the fate I envisioned. But I am willing to do what must be done. So would you please spare me of your hypocrisy? I disobeyed, and human lives were lost due to my lack of control." She says with a cold tone knowing that those she killed were basically the scum of the earth.

Clare however only began to freak out even more trying to free herself from Ornstein's iron-like grip.

Teresa hearing her looks to her and Ornstein, then to the man in black, "Answer this for me though, what will happen to those two?" She asks holding almost no emotion in her voice.

The man in black looks to them and locks eyes with the much taller man, who happened to be glaring intensely at him at the moment. "They are no longer your concern. But if you must know, the man will no longer be sought after by us, he is human after all. As for the girl she will be dealt with by The Organization from this point on." Hearing this Ornstein clenched his unused hand in rage, the nerve thinking they would just take Clare from him.

He would rather die, than let these people get their hands on her. And if he did die, he would take more than a few warriors with him to the grave.

Teresa seeing the look of pure anger that appeared in Ornstein's fiery red eyes, knows what to do. Better to wound a few than let him kill many.

"I see." She says lowly without a shred of emotion in her eyes.

This got two different reactions out of her companions. Ornstein knew what she was about to do and smiled a bit knowing she wasn't one to so easily give up on life. While Clare on the other hand looked horrified at the thought of loosing her and Ornstein, and being dragged away by these horrible people. "Why won't you listen!? Don't hurt her, please!" She shouts in distraught.

Ornstein on the other hand only smiled, this was already over. Now to think about more important things, like where to go next in their little rag-tag group. Seeing that Clare was still struggling in his grasp he leans down to her, "Don't worry Clare, she'll be joining us shortly. Now then what you like for supper? Teresa how does fish sound? I remember hearing a river not to far from here shouldn't be too hard to catch some." He says in a calm and collected voice-making Clare widen her eyes at the casualness in it.

Then in a split second Teresa suddenly moved and was right beside Clare and Ornstein, with sword coated in a thin sheet of blood. And behind her all five other warriors collapsed to their knees, each with a wound on their stomachs.

"Yes, fish does sound nice. Although I think using your powers to catch them is considered cheating" She says to him a joking manner before putting her sword away.

She then turns to the other warriors that had yet to fully recover from their wounds, "The wounds aren't deep. Your Yoki powers will be more than enough to close them, you'll be all right." She then turns to the stunned man in black and gives him her trademark smile. "Sorry, but I'm not ready to die just yet." She says in an amused manner with a crying Clare snuggled up beside her yet again.

Ornstein then tuned out the small conversation the two were having in favor of meeting the gaze of only other man there. Burning eyes of red met unfeeling black as the two had a small stare down. That is until Ornstein flashed his power a bit making him recoil in shock, and the knight grow a smirk on his lips. _'Looks like he finally gets why I'm still here.'_

Breaking out of his shock he then glares at the former number one, "What have you done now Teresa?" Teresa for her part only held Clare a bit tighter to her and met his gaze with her own confident look. "Only what I've always done, I've kept myself alive the only way I know how. But it's all different now, this little girl has given me a greater purpose than I have ever known." Hearing this the man widens his eyes and struggles not to take a surprised gasp.

"And I seem to have found good company to help with that purpose." She says looking towards the Knight of Gwyn. This makes said knight smile at her before the three of them began to walk away and into the sunrise of a new day.

As they passed the cloaked man he spoke up, "You will regret this." He says letting her knew that more would come for her.

Teresa for her part only looked down at the girl next to her, "Maybe, but not today." She says back to him before the three of them eventually walked out of his sight into the distance leaving the handler with only the five injured warriors.

 **A few days later**

Ornstein and Teresa currently could be found sparring in open dunes of the desert, and if one to pass by they would assume it was fight to the death. What with Ornstein now out of his traveling clothes an in his armor only without the helm.

And it appeared that the fight was very evenly matched at this point, with Teresa actually being pushed to use her Yoki, while Ornstein on the other hand was using some of his stronger soul arts.

It appeared to be even matched at the moment with Ornstein shifting his footing constantly in order to keep her guessing where his next attack would come from and Teresa using a few more risky techniques to stun him. After all both of them could heal, meaning the injuries of the spar were neglected in the end.

"You know I don't really think you'll face anyone faster than lightning?" Ornstein shouts while using his spear as a spring to launch him forward with two footed drop kick to the woman's chest.

Teresa jumping over him attempts to slash at his unguarded side, only to have her sword blocked when Ornstein brings the blunt end of his spear around. "You'd be surprised, I'm not the fastest among the Organization's ranks. That title belongs to a friend of mine actually."

Ornstein for his part only lightly laughs at that, "Sure she is, and yet here you stand at number one. So stop making excuses, because I guarantee she'll be one they send to face you!" He says before lightning sprung to life on both his feet and spear.

Teresa tightening her grip prepares for him to come at her. He then takes a stance akin to a runner's mixed with his traditional stance. She still waits as he then vanishes, leaving only a trail of sand turned to glass and spark along the ground as he moved towards her.

Meeting him halfway her own tremendous speed she, dodges his first thrust and was able to sweep out his feet from under him. But before she could plant her blade in to secure her win, his spear touches the ground sending out a volley of large lightning spheres in a complete circle catching her and sending her flying.

"I have to admit, that lightning of your feels broken at times." She says getting up before looking to her legs which were now slightly blackened by the lightning. Ornstein only laughed as he got up to face her again, "Yes of course and the ability to heal yourself during the battle is completely fair. And before you saying anything about my miracles, you know how vulnerable I am during the casting." He says twirling his spear and holds it in a reverse grip.

She doesn't say anything, and instead appears behind him and aims for his legs with her sword. Widening his eyes the knight jumps and then slashes at her with his superior range, when she dodged though he uses the momentum of his slash and turns it around in order to thrust at her in rapid succession.

However with her having fought him multiple times before, she was able to avoid every single strike and position herself in his guard. Ornstein in rush of adrenalin goes to cast a Force miracle, but before his soul could manifest the miracle he found himself face to face with the beautiful woman. He knew he had lost as he could feel her sword only inches away from piercing his stomach.

"Looks like I win." She says confidently while the knight only smiled and nodded, "It would appear so." They then separate and Ornstein puts away his armor and spear and removes his traveling clothes and purchased greatsword in order to blend in more with the crowds they were sure to see in the next town.

"Don't get cocky though, as I recall I'm still ahead of you by two." He tells in a joking manner. However Teresa couldn't help but laugh a bit, "You say that, but need I remind you I'm learning more and more about how you fight. Who knows maybe I'll figure out all of your tricks one day." She says as they begin to walk back to camp where Clare had been waiting for them.

"So who won?" She asks knowing of their nightly training sessions. Ornstein's current mood though and Teresa's less than obvious smile told her what she needed to know. "So Teresa?" Said woman nods to her.

"So then where to next? Personally the desert is rather bland, I'd rather we reach another patch of forest soon." Ornstein says resting his hands behind his head on a rock while Teresa thought of where to go next.

"Um…Ornstein I never really asked you this, but are there others like you? Like are there others that can throw lightning like you can?" Clare asks curiously getting Teresa's attention.

Ornstein sits up to look the girl in the eyes and smiles seeing that she had been thinking of asking for some time now. "Yes there were, in fact there are so many that I cannot name them all." Her eyes light up at hearing that, an army of people like Ornstein would absolutely amazing to see.

"Were there any stronger than you?" She asks him again. Ornstein nods his head making Teresa raise a brow at the thought of that. "Yes, though there were only two. One was my king, The Lord of Sunlight was his title though his true name was Gwyn." Seeing that her curiosity was only growing he decided to indulge her.

"I'm guessing you want to hear more of him?" She nod, "Well then, Gywn was a marvelous ruler, he led his men valiantly into every battle always the first one to the fight. He was kind to me and the other three of his personal knights, and he loved his children very, very dearly. Though, looking back on it that ended up being one of his faults."

This makes Clare grow confused and Teresa merely raise a brow at the thought, "Gywn had three children. The first was…well we chose not to speak of him all that much, all I will tell you is that he is the only other stronger than me. And that I ever saw him again, I would not hesitate to try and kill him." He says in a deadly serious tone making Clare widen her eyes and Teresa somewhat nod in understanding.

"Well enough of him I was much more acquainted with his two other children. The first was his daughter, Gwynevere Princess of Sunlight. She was woman much like her father in the fact that was kind, and always thinking of others before her comforts. I often talked with her when I was guarding her, and every time it always ended in one of us laughing. Though it often made her husband jealous whenever we spoke, not that he would ever do anything to me, or even try to upset her. For one who was called the god of flame he was quite timid when facing Artorias or me."

This stopped the girls for a moment, "Wait so you mean to tell me that you were **stronger** than a **god**?" Teresa asks in almost a state of disbelief.

"Well yes, but…oh…I forgot to mention that didn't I?" He says in embarrassment.

"So does that mean, your king and all his children were gods as well?" Clare asks curiously, to which Ornstein mealy nods to her.

"Well I suppose that means I'm going to have to reintroduce myself. When I was under the service of Gwyn I was captain of the entire army and leader of the Four Knights. And I'll answer your other questions now, the Four Knights were comprised of myself as the Leo Knight, and leader. After that there was my best friend and rival Artorias, the Wolf Knight. He was actually somewhat like you and the friend you mentioned, I was faster than he, but he was always the stronger of the two of us. He was appointed for his unbreakable will power and unbending devotion to those he fought with. He led the army under me. Next there was the only female member of the group and ironically she was Artorias' lover. Her name was Ciaran, The Lord's Blade the assassin of our small group. Her job was to kill the enemies of our Lord in the shadows and she did so with scary efficiency. Though even with her reputation it was hard to take her serious at times, she was always quick tempered, so we ended up calling her a Hornet Knight as a joke. And finally was the archer of our group and the largest of us all, Hawkeye Gough. He was a gentle giant always making wooden carvings for the children of Anor Londo. But underneath that gentle nature was an archer capable to hitting a dragon so far in the distance that one would think it to be a fly. And he did this all while blind, best shot in Anor Londo."

All the while he was talking about the other knights he served with Teresa could tell that they were all gone, it was given away by the way he spoke. That and the look of remembrance in his eyes told her all she needed to know.

They were all gone, and he was the last. The only question that remained was how long had he been alone?

"Well than enough about me, I'm sure Teresa has a few stories of her own to tell." Ornstein says before ruffling Clare's hair not really caring about the pout on her face. He then turns over and goes to sleep.

Or at least tried to go to sleep, what with Clare poking him and trying to ask more questions.

 **The Next Day**

When the morning sun had come the three woke up bright and early before they began to move out towards the next town.

They walked for a few hours with only small talk between the two older members of the group, until eventually they were able to see the town. "Do you need to rest?" Teresa asks her charge. Clare only looks to her and Ornstein and shakes her head.

"We should be at the next village by tomorrow, perhaps there we can actually relax for once." Teresa says making Ornstein nods in agreement. "That would be nice." He says in agreement with her.

 **With Victor**

Victor was at this point bored in his duty as a glorified watchman. Sure he was able to protect the people of the village, or really villages at this point. But in all honesty it had gotten quite complicated over the few months he had been in the village.

Eventually with the townspeople speaking about him so much the neighboring villages were able to hear of him and soon the money and requests for help started flowing in for the village. And of course he was enthusiastic about helping people where he could. And the jobs themselves were somewhat his forte what with the first few maybe even dozen jobs being to rid the neighboring villages of bandits, Yoma, or even a few man-eating bears and wolf packs.

And at first it did feel good to help but soon more people became friends with him, not only because of his status as a hero of the region, but because all the money he had gained in helping rid the world of vermin.

He saw right through them and left the village where he had first became the "Midnight Archer" and began to explore the region, only problem was he had already helped most of the villages in that area. Meaning he'd have to broaden his search of a village that did not know of him.

And eventually he entered this one, a village he didn't know the name of, but it did not know of him either. And that was perfect for him. So doing as he had before he bought a room and since then has been watching and waiting for something to happen, and of course sharpening and cleaning his weapons.

But for some reason he felt it, deep within his soul he knew something was to happen in this town. And he didn't want to miss it.

 **With Reden and Gehrman**

Far, far away from the village stood the master and apprentice duo, well only Reden was standing at this point.

He had come to check on his student and couldn't help but laugh at what he saw. The boy and worked himself until he just couldn't keep his eyes open anymore. He found him asleep, with his sword chipping pieces off the stone. This boy was truly becoming something frightening, he could only imagine what he would be like when fully trained.

So here they sat around a campfire Gehrman peacefully asleep under a blanket and Reden in his armor minus the helm holding his glaive over his lap, almost asleep.

That was until he heard the sounds of footsteps ever so close to him and the boy.

Snapping at attention he scanned the area in front of him cloaked in night he was searching for four people, all of them armed and armored. He only knew of a few beings that still wore armor in this world. It couldn't have been the other Black Knights as he knew their soul by heart, it wasn't the captain as he could feel his power like humans could feel a thunderstorm.

And it surly wasn't humans as it would suicide for only four to be out here in the middle of the night with no torches. He then hears the clicking of footsteps behind him and turns to find what he assumed the noises were, only to find that he was right.

Behind him stood four Claymores, each of them seemed to be trying to peer into his soul at the moment.

Looking them over he was able to see if they meant any harm to him.

They all wore the same uniform so the only thing separating them was the appearance of their hair and height.

With the first being around 5'8 (175 cm) and having a short cut hairstyle and a somewhat boyish face.

The second was the same height as the first but her hair was a stark difference compared to other one as it was near chin-length, wavy, and much more elegant.

The third was an interesting one to behold as not only was her face a total serious expression, unlike the other two, which seemed to be glaring at one another. Her hair was a beautiful shade of silver unlike the blonde of the other two, and she was a bit taller standing at 5'10 (180 cm) she also had pointed ears that made him stare just a bit longer than he should have.

He then feels a chill go up his spine as he looks to the last one though. She was the shortest of them all only standing at about 5'4 (165 cm) and she also appeared to be the youngest one there. Her eyes were silver like all the others, but Reden could see the power that was hidden behind those eyes. This was no girl, only a monster that was waiting to break out.

He was almost tempted to try for her head, after all no one had their hands on their weapons and she was the closest. But the thought of four powerful warriors such as these ones all attacking him at once would definitely be a problem, especially the tallest and the shortest ones.

Seeing that it was not a fight he could win he looseness his grip on the glaive and meets their gaze, "So what can I do for you lovely ladies?" He asks staring at the tallest one when he said that.

However she only stared down at him and seemed to be studying him at the moment, "No, forgive us but it seems that we've made a mistake. We thought you were someone else." She says before walking away, and with a motion of her hand the other three started to move out as well.

' _Well that was weird, its pretty hard to confuse me with someone else. Gods help whoever they were after though.'_ He says in his head before looking out into the night. All the while he continued to think of one thing. Something major was about to happen wherever they were going, and it was definitely not going to be good.

 **With Ornstein and Teresa**

When they had finally entered the town the trio began to make their way to the center where they saw a very familiar sight to the three of them. In the center of the circled crowd stood a large and muscular Yoma, holding a child by the neck.

The three looked to one another before Teresa sighed knowing it would easier to explain her rather than Ornstein if either of them were to intervene and kill it.

She then looks to Clare, "Ready? Because once I reveal what I am we won't be able to relax in this town. Are you sure your comfortable with another night of camping rather than a warm bed?" She asks the girl who looks to the poor boy in the hands of the Yoma, then to Teresa before nodding.

However just before she could shed her cloak and dispatch the Yoma someone else did it for her.

With what sounded like one of Ornstein's lightning bolts, everyone in the crowd was stunned for a moment before thunderous crash was heard. Teresa quickly looking to where it originated was shocked to see the Yoma planted into the ground missing its left side completely. However what really held her interest was the massive spear that held it in place.

"Well then that is certainly a change of pace. Who'd think a human could throw a spear like that?" Teresa says with a smile knowing they'd be able to get a room much easier now.

However what made her freeze was the look on Ornstein's face as he looked at the spear in the ground, "That is no spear, that Teresa is an arrow."

She then joins him in a stunned expression, the kind of strength and training needed to fire arrows that big must have been insane!

It was then the Clare noticed a figure making its way through the crowd from their right. He reminded her so much of Ornstein, from his staggering height, to his walk, and even from the way his armor looked. Though to be fair Ornstein was the only other person she knew that wore a full suit of armor.

Everyone watched as he made his way out of the crowd and ripped the arrow out of the Yoma's corpse. He then looks to the boy that had run to his parents' arms, he could not help but smile seeing the family all crying tears of joy.

"Thank you so much!" One of the town's people praised seeing the man who had curled brown hair going over to a discarded cloth before cleaning the blood off his arrow.

"Your thanks is not needed, but I'm glad to have helped." Hearing the voice was the final straw for Ornstein who leapt into the air and over the heads of everyone.

"VICTOR!?" He shouts at the top of his lugs making the humble knight turn around and stare at the descending man in shock.

"Captain!?" He shouts to the descending figure that landed in full view of everyone. The two look each other over, Victor in his armor but without the helm and Ornstein in his traveling his clothes and greatsword. And after a few moments they both smile and let loose a laugh.

They then hug much to the shock of Teresa and Clare, "How have you been you magnificent bastard?" Ornstein asks him as they separate. Victor for his part smiles and rubs the back of his head out of modesty, "I've been well sir. Mostly doing a few jobs of dispatching Yoma, bandits, and whatnot. You would not believe how gracious people can be."

Ornstein looks over to his two companions and smirks, "Oh believe me I know. Teresa, Clare come over here for a moment." He says to them the two then walk out of the crowd though Teresa still had her cloak on preventing anyone from seeing that she was a Claymore.

When they approached Victor gave them a curiosity bow, "Any friend of the captain's is a friend of mine. A pleasure to meet you two." He says to them with a calm voice. Teresa for her part nods while Clare couldn't help but stare at the sword and shield he held on his back.

When they left for a place to stay the four of them had begun to talk and the more Teresa studied this new addition to the group she could see similarities to Ornstein and stark differences.

For one they had the same kind of walk, one of experienced fighters. That was a plus in her book, if anyone was to join their group then they'd best be able to handle themselves. It would be hard enough handling Clare when the Organization came for her. She didn't want any dead weight to slow them down.

The major difference between them was their eyes, it was more than just the color. What with Ornstein's being that shade of fiery red she had grown to know and with Victor's being bluer than the deepest of seas.

Ornstein's eyes held much more conviction, and experience he had the eyes a leader forged through conflict. While Victor's were that of a loyal follower, one who would lay down his life on a simple order. But there was an undertone of disappointment every time he looked at the knight she had been traveling with. Almost as if he was not satisfied with being himself, and that he either wanted to loose that burden, or he wanted to become something more than he already was.

When they entered the large room that Victor had paid for the three oldest members of the party began to talk for some time, though really most of it was Ornstein and her explaining the situation they currently found themselves in, and Clare for her part just sat that next to Teresa and watched the three of them talk before laying her head down on Teresa's legs and fell asleep.

Teresa after telling of her wounding her executioners looks to Victor who had gone quite. He had a serious look on his face as he looked to Ornstein, then to her, then to Clare. "Well that sounds like a very serious situation. But from the sounds of it the captain is already willing to die for you two, so I suppose I'll be ready to as well." She looks at him shock at the fact that he decided to help them so quickly.

"Why?" She asks him simply not really believing him. Victor looks to the window and frowns a bit, "I might be the most modest of our Ornstein's old group, but I'm also someone who enjoys the thrill of battle as much as you or the others. Tell me Teresa what do you see when you look at my sword?" He asks holding out his Black Knight Sword to her.

Teresa holds out her hand and he hands it to her, she tests the weight, looks over the craftsmanship, and finally looks for any damage in the edge.

"I see a very-well crafted blade, one that has seen horrors not many others have, or ever truly will." He laughs at that, "I must say you are an impressive woman Teresa. But that is not all this blade represents to me."

He then holds it up and with the sunlight coming through the window lets everyone see just how clean and polished the sword really was. "This is my last resort, I am an archer by heart and the bow will always be my true weapon. But I am a man who likes to use all of his skills when he can. And I must say, the Yoma recently have not given me many reasons to draw this. Most I simply stab them with an arrow rather than actually use my sword and shield. And it has become really, really dull in the past few weeks. I have told my captain and fellow knights the answer, but if I'm to fight with you let me ask you this. It doesn't matter if you get it right or wrong, just answer honestly."

She nods to him already suspicious of the question, "You've seen how clean my blade is, why do you think I sharpen and clean it everyday?" This was a question Teresa really wasn't expecting to hear so it took her a bit of time before she answered.

When she looked to her own blade then back to his she smiled, "You wish to be ready. You want to be at your best, at all times, no matter the fight." She says confidently which actually made the Leo knight next to her laugh a bit, "That was closer than I thought she would be." He says honestly.

Looking to the archer of the group he smiles, "You are on the right path, just going the wrong direction. I wish to be at my best yes, not for the sake of the fight. I wish to be ready for one day I will meet a being who is to kill me. And when that day comes I will not disappoint them with a dull and dirty blade."

Nodding in understanding she recalls a few of her sisters with that kind of philosophy of them always being prepared for their deaths, and that they would greet that death with a smile on their face.

"I see then…" She trails off knowing full well this was a man ready to die if need be.

Victor however saw where her train of thought was going and spoke up, "Do not fret though if anything were to try and harm the girl they would have to get past me. And trust me killing a knight of Anor Londo is harder than you'd think, especially when there is something we have to protect." He says to her somewhat calming her nerves.

She nods to him, "Good, because with the Organization after me we might have to test that at some point." She says deadly seriously.

This gets both Ornstein and Victor to nod before Victor then stands up before putting his bow on his back and grabs his helm and holds it under his arm. "In that case I suppose it would be a good idea for at least one of us to keep watch for when they do come." He says before walking down to the lobby.

Teresa now with Victor out of the room turns to the only other knight. Ornstein could see her expression, she held no fear for her own life, only Clare's. "Don't worry Teresa I promise that no harm will fall onto Clare. If you wish to fight them we will make sure that she is nowhere near the battle. You should be able to give it your best without her near." Teresa still not truly convinced turns to him.

"And what of you? What will you do if you're drawn into this?" She asks him seriously knowing that the rule of no killing humans doesn't really apply to Ornstein. "Unless they know truly that I am not human, I do not see much of reason they would fight me unless I stepped in for you. And before you say otherwise, in the unlikely situation that you are overwhelmed, I will be there in less than a heartbeat to help you." He says seriously and with an intensity that caused a very faint layer of pink to emerge of Teresa's cheeks.

"Thank you Ornstein. Truly, thank you for everything." She says in a softer tone of voice than normal. However this only caused the knight to raise a brow at her tone, "For what exactly?" He asks making her look him with a smirk at him not realizing what he had truly done for both her and Clare.

"Well for one you never cease to surprise me, and believe me in my line of work being surprised is very rare. Also you've been there for Clare, before she really broke through to me." She says in a more somber tone to him.

"You stopped me from throwing another kick, one that I'd put some force into, you cared for her when we were on the road, gave her food and water when I couldn't, you even fought off bandits twice when she was in danger." She says to him making him shake his head a bit.

"To be fair the first time we met them you saved her by cutting off the one's hand." However seeing her glare a bit made him shut up and he let her continue. "Anyway, after the first encounter you kept on protecting her even more fiercely. When I threatened to leave her behind you simply picked her up and made sure she would be right behind me when she woke up. When the same bandit from before came back you stopped him from defiling me and also saved her from him. And in the village, when you used that golden lightning, you did that for her didn't you? You killed them all so she wouldn't have to live in fear that they might come back for her? And even as recently as a few days ago with the other warriors, you didn't flinch when they said they were there to kill me, you simply held onto her and kept reassuring that it would be alright. Even if I did let them kill me. I know you'd have taken good care of her, and would fight your hardest to make sure the Organization didn't get their hands of her."

Hearing Teresa say all this actually made the Leo knight a bit flushed at hearing all of this praise, but he knew it was not totally warranted, "Yes I suppose I have done a few good things. But please do not turn me into a saint Teresa, I am guilty just as you are. I stopped your kick because my honor would not let me see a child harmed for no reason. Same with the road as well as the food and water I gave her. And please do not forget that I did try to leave the two of you."

Teresa nodded her head to that but still smiled at him, and if he was being honest it made him a bit uncomfortable. This wasn't her regular confident smile, it wasn't the mocking or arrogant smirk she had when she gains the upper hand in a fight, and it wasn't the true and pure smiles she has when looking at Clare. This one was different because it was fueled by a different emotion. But what that emotion was escaped his mind at the moment.

Standing up he goes over to the door and opens it but turns to face Teresa and the still sleeping Clare, "But, if you think of me as a good man then who am I to judge." He says honestly before closing the door and heading out into the city.

Hours passed as the two knights walked around the city both of them always extending their senses looking for anything out of the ordinary, or more specifically looking for the distinct soul signature of Claymores.

"Captain, what do you think will happen when these warriors do show up? What will we do?" Victor asks looking to the man next to him.

Ornstein for his part only lets out a sigh, "Think of it the same you thought of Lost Izalith when the demons first came to be. She is the priority, protect her at all costs. She may claim that I can care for Clare, but she does not see how broken the girl will become if she dies. Make sure that does not happen." He gives in his commanding tone of voice to his fellow knight.

Victor nods in understanding, "Yes sir." He says flatly and with resolve.

They then begin to make their way back to the hotel when both of them feel it, the presence of those sent to kill Teresa.

"I count three of them coming from the north." Victor says while removing his helmet from his bottomless box and easily slides it onto his head. He then looks to Ornstein as the captain seemed to be struggling for a moment.

"No, there are four of them. One is just extremely hard to find, I can feel her, but I cannot pinpoint her location. This must one of considerable power to hide herself so well. Victor I need to take the vantage point of the tower across the street from the hotel. And do not fire until I give the signal and keep and eye on Clare. Is that clear?" He asks looking in the direction three of them were coming from.

Victor only removes his bow from his back and looks to his assigned position, "Of course sir." He then sprints to his position and leaps onto the building, making sure to hide himself as best as he could.

When Ornstein made his way back to the room, he came in to see that Teresa had already put her armor back on and that Clare was still asleep. "I'm guessing you know they're here?" She nods to him "So it seems that the Organization has finally sent their enforcers to punish me." She says knowing that it was true.

Ornstein for his part couldn't help but grin in anticipation. "I'd hate to say I told you so, but we did practice for this, so you should be more than prepared for the four of them."

However looking to he sees that her eyes had gone wide in shock, "What did you say?" She asks lowly making him realize what exactly he had said. "You only sensed three of them didn't you?" She nods.

"Well then I suppose it would be best to separate them then, unless you want them all to yourself?" He asks jokingly towards her.

She shakes her head though, "No I'll handle two of them and you handle the other two. Wouldn't want you to get bored, but leave the stronger two for me, I don't want them to know everything you can do just yet."

Ornstein nods to that, "Very well, I suppose this will do. Just please be careful Teresa. The fourth one is dangerous, her soul is tainted with madness I can feel it." He says before walking out of the room.

Teresa then looks to Clare, _'I know they sent experienced fighters. So I see no point in trying to suppress my Yoki, especially if they sent you, old friend.'_ She thinks to herself knowing she is most likely right.

Meanwhile down in the lobby of the hotel Ornstein sat by the bar knowing they were right outside the main door. He then sees two of them enter, one with long silver hair and pointed ear standing as tell as Teresa, and the second standing only slightly shorter with long wavy hair much like his companion's hair.

' _The first is the stronger of the two, meaning it looks like the second one and the other outside are to be my opponents. She should be interesting.'_ He says watching as the second dropped a large bag of money in front of the owner.

"Th-This is too much." He says looking at the amount placed in front of him. The second one merely ignores him in favor of following the footsteps of the first until she reached Teresa's room, "No, not really. That should cover the damages to your inn." She says placing a hand on her sword, making her point known to the man who widened his eyes in shock.

Ornstein hearing this actually lets out a laugh that draws the attention of the woman as he begins to walk up to the man and removes as even bigger pouch of coins, "Trust me," he says looking at the woman, "One bag is not enough to cover what's about to happen." He says making her glare at him.

With Teresa she simply sat there in her room admiring the calm before the storm, ironic really considering her companion is one who could create his own storm.

Though her thoughts were interrupted when the telltale sounds of armored footsteps just outside her room. "Hello, you haven't changed a bit old friend. Come we've so much catching up to do." She says to the Claymore standing in the doorway.

Said Claymore only held a face of seriousness as she stared at her friend, "I've come here to take your head Teresa." She says simply and plainly to her friend.

Teresa merely smiles at her, "And do you really think you can Irene? And please before you use your Quick Sword technique please do be mindful of the child in the room, and that the other two downstairs are about to be just as occupied as you are."

This little bit of information makes Irene stop in her tracks, "How so?" Hearing her friend's slightly curious tone makes Teresa' smile widen, "Well I just happen to have met someone, someone very special. Don't worry they won't be killed, though I can't help but say he does like to showoff every now and again."

Hearing this causes Irene to flinch at that before widening her eyes as she felt an unknown power beginning to stir below her, right next to Sophia.

Seeing the smirk on Teresa's face grow even more made her realize what they had just walked into. And Teresa reveled in the realization on her friend's face.

"Now I'd say we've been expecting you, but it seems you already know that."

 **And Done!**

 **Anyway I know, I know how could I leave it at cliffhanger, but hey the chapter would've been insanely long if included the fight as well.**

 **Anyway please Read and Review I love the feedback, and it does help me in the long run.**

 **I'm having a lot of fun writing this one and I hope those who read enjoy it.**

 **But yeah sorry it took awhile to come out with a new chapter with school and all kinds of other stuff it was hard to actually sit down and type.**

 **Stay Cool**


	6. Gods and Monsters

I do not own Claymore or Dark Souls

"Speech"

' _Thoughts'_

" **Yoma or Dark Character speech"**

" _ **Yoma or Dark Character thoughts'**_

 **Chapter 6: Gods and Monsters**

As soon as Irene heard Teresa say that her demeanor changed completely.

It went from one of calm, collected, and confident to a tad bit of doubt and almost fear in her eyes. She quickly tried to hide it, but she was no fool Teresa had seen the doubt in her eyes. And any warriors who doubted themselves were bound to loose.

But she then quickly squashed that fear and charged at her friend, quick sword at the ready. Giving a few test swings to build up speed Teresa almost laughs at her friends predictable tactics.

"I thought I already told you to be mindful of the child, and here you are playing with your technique." Ignoring her Irene continues for a few more strikes until she was sure to have built up enough momentum. "How very disappointing using deception and appealing to emotion won't save you." The other warrior says calmly.

She then takes aim at her target's stomach and goes in at an angle hoping that her speed would be enough to catch Teresa by surprise and let her gain the upper hand till Pricilla or the others could get here and help her.

However to her surprise Teresa simply blocks the attack, "What's the matter old friend, surprised that I've gotten faster? You'd be surprised to hear that there are others out there faster than even you."

Hearing this Irene pushes her away and then unleashes a fury of quick thrusts and slashes towards the rouge warrior. Only to curse inside her head as Teresa was able to keep up with her, almost effortlessly. " I must commend you, you've defiantly improved from our last little spar." Teresa says smirking.

Meanwhile in the lobby Sophia looks to the strange man in front of her, she knew that Irene and Teresa were already fighting upstairs, but something about this one held her attention.

It was then that she felt an unknown power build inside of the man that she realized there was more than met the eye.

Ornstein for his part couldn't help but smile when the warrior turned to him in shock, only to receive a painful kick to the gut.

Sophia to her credit held firm and used her sword to make sure she didn't slide too far from her new opponent by stabbing it into the ground. "I must say using you and the other one outside to surround Teresa, not a bad plan of attack. The only thing you really didn't count on was a bit of outside interference." He says before vanishing.

The Claymore widens her eyes in shock, _'What? How?! He has no yoki!'_ She says in her mind. Looking around for him Sophia tries to lock onto the power she felt resonating from him, only to turn in shock as she brought her sword around to block his own blade as the two greatswords clashed. While locking up with her Ornstein was able to see and somewhat feel the power in this one, and compared to Teresa the only thing that made her special is her strength.

But with that said Artorias had been much stronger, so he knew how to fight strength. Slowly leaning back the knight breaks contact and sweeps her off her feet when she tries to correct her footing in order to reengage.

And while in mid air the knight capitalizes on her position by bringing his own sword around slams the flat end of his blade into her gut sending her crashing through the floor. But before he could comment or even admire his work she sprung up and with a powerful upwards swing of her sword completely broke his in two.

She lands in a crouched position after emerging from the hole in the floor and for a moment only let out a sigh, while Ornstein looked over his now broken greatsword, "Well then, it seems as if I'm to fight with a short sword now." He says in a joking manner to his opponent who for her part remained quiet.

Standing up from the crouched position she landed in the warrior turns to him a looks of displeasure in her eyes, "The fact that you were able to fight me, even if it was only for so long proves that you are not human. Meaning you are no better than a Yoma." She says with a bit of satisfaction in her head thinking she could kill him now.

She then dashes towards him and brings her sword overhead, though what surprised her was the small grin she saw on his lips when she appeared in front of him.

"And that is where you are wrong." He says before using a burst of speed to enter her guard. With him being so close and her still being somewhat airborne she was unprepared for what his her next. Ornstein for his part had taken the liberty to charge an Emit Force miracle in his free hand.

And the moment he appeared in her guard he pushed it point blank to her stomach, and sent her crashing through the doors of the inn.

Noel who was waiting on the streets looks to her partner in shock seeing her crash through the doors. "What the hell happened?" She asks Sophia as the other woman stands up and looks over the damage to her stomach, seeing as she had a massive bruise and could taste blood in her mouth she made a note not to get hit by whatever that was again.

"Teresa brought help." She says standing up and pushed yoki to her wound, "And he's not human." She says grimacing as she felt a rib pop back into place.

They then hear the sound of armored footsteps coming through the dust cloud Sophia's grand exit had created and look to the now almost glowing figure making its way onto the streets. Where Sophia had seen a man in simple cloth clothes and a simple steel greatsword, in his place stood a fearsome knight dressed in gold and armed with a spear that radiated power in its truest form.

"Well then, shall we continue?" Ornstein says slipping into a low stance with the blade of spear pointed towards his two opponents.

 **With Teresa and Irene**

While her companion took his battle to the streets Teresa still was locking blades with her old friend, "It seems as if Ornstein is starting to have his fun with those two. What say we join them?"

Irene realizing what the rouge meant attempted to escape her close proximity, but Teresa had already grabbing her by the free arm and using her own weight and then her pure muscle, threw Irene through the window and into the street no more than a few yards from the other two.

Ornstein looking to the sound of shattering glass in his peripheral smiles as he watched the first Claymore that had walked up to their room falling fast. He watches still with a smile of amusement as the warrior lands in between the other two and nods to Teresa when she lands next to him.

"Well perhaps that bag was just enough to cover the damages after all." He says to her as Teresa rolls her eyes at him.

"I only count three of them, where is the fourth one you mentioned?" Teresa asks with her eyes darting around looking for any trace of the last warrior. Ornstein looked to her with a serious expression on his face, "I don't know and that has me worried. I know she's close, but I cannot say where or even which direction she's coming from. Be ready though." He says before pushing a bit of his power into his legs.

Nodding to him they both shatter the ground they stood on as they made their ways over to the three warriors. Irene and the other two dawn looks of shock with them knowing of Pricilla hidden among the village. But steeling themselves they all nod to one another before Sophia goes to meet Teresa and Noel to Ornstein while Irene leapt straight into the air trying to see which of the two would need the most help.

Ornstein being the faster of the two meets his foe first and begins his assault with a powerful thrust from his spear making the very air around Noel thin from the speed in which he put on the blade.

However Noel was able to evade by dodging to his right and tried to strike, but before she could the knight disappeared and appeared behind her. "You're quick," He says almost in her ear. Turning and slashing in a wide arch out of reflex the Claymore glares at him as he simply jumps backwards and smirks.

"But unfortunately you're not quick enough." He says before they rush to one another again. Noel was the first to attack with he using her agility to completely flip over Ornstein. From there the warrior goes for a thrust, but Ornstein instinctively dodged, but was surprised when she then shifted her weight and brought her legs around to strike a glancing blow on his unprotected chin.

Recoiling a bit from the blow Ornstein looks up to see Irene falling fast straight for him, _'And just where has she been?'_ He asks himself in his mind. Looking over to Teresa she seemed to handling herself just fine, even with the addition of a second opponent. _'So the fourth finally decided to join the fight.'_

It was here that he had to stop glancing at Teresa and rather locks eyes with his new opponent. Once Irene had landed she joined Noel on the offensive and both of them tried to surround him.

Ornstein though seeing where they were coming from shifts his weight before swinging his spear diagonally to block Noel's thrust towards his chest. From there he leapt into the air and aloud his weight to flip him over backwards, letting him drop behind the silver-haired warrior.

She turns to cross blades with him and scowls a bit seeing those fiery red eyes orbs that held only amusement in the face of battle. "Teresa tells me that one of you is faster than her, if its you then lets see you dodge this." He says breaking away and leaping towards the buildings.

"Victor shoot to wound!" He shouts to the sky, making the two warriors widen their eyes. Irene looking over to a recovering Sophia shouts to her, "Find the third one!" She shouts knowing he would be problematic for them if left alone.

Sophia nods to her before a loud boom filled the air, instinctively rolling to the side she looks to see a huge wooden arrow imbedded where she once stood.

Turning her head she sees a horned figure holding a great bow standing atop the building across from the inn where the fight had began. She then picks up her blade and charges to the building with Victor drawing three arrows, two oni-slayer and one dragon-slayer.

Stabbing the largest of the three arrows into the ground next to him and takes aim with his other two.

Releasing the first directly at her he wastes no time drawing his second and firing it higher than the first almost even with his stance atop of the building, he then draws the third and holds it patiently waiting for the shot to make itself known to him.

Sophia seeing the first arrow shot towards her jumps above to avoid it and get closer to the archer on the roof, but it was here that she encountered the second arrow and had to bring her sword across it deflecting it, but also slowing her down a bit and knocking her back a small distance as well.

When she lands on the rooftop and stares at the black-clad archer she widens her eyes seeing the much larger arrow, ready and waiting for her. She can almost hear the smile forming under the horned helm of the knight and readies herself to charge. But the knight had other plans as he releases the arrow and sends the patch of roof she was standing on into pieces.

Jumping towards him once again the knight stabs his bow into the ground and draws his shield, moving under her the knight catches her weight and using the edge of the shield was able to knock the wind out of her. From there he simply went to the hole and dropped her through the roof.

"Well I have few second to get the hell out of here before…." He cuts off his sentence as the now angry Claymore bursts through the roof in front of him her blade already poised to strike.

Bringing his shield up to block the knight was lifted off his feet from the sheer strength behind the blow. This of course breaking his guard left him open to the superhuman punch that sent him flying back into the room where all of this had begun.

Turning to Clare who looked frightened Victor couldn't help but wince, _'That's a broken rib most likely.'_ He says to himself before going over to Clare.

"It's not safe here you need to move." He says before picking up the struggling girl. He feels her little arms and legs hitting him repeatedly but he ignored it until he found a spot on a rooftop not too far away from the fight, but still a fair distance to where she would not get hurt.

"Stay here, I promised your mother I wouldn't let anything harm you. And I intend to keep that promise." He says before leaping off to find another vantage point, leaving the stunned girl behind.

 **Back with Teresa**

Teresa had to admit this new warrior they had sent to kill her was good, extremely good. Crossing blades with her almost felt like she was doing it with a younger version of herself, the only thing that kept bugging her though was what Ornstein had said about this one.

"Her soul is tainted with madness."

That had stuck with her the entire time she had been fighting her, but hadn't seen anything that would suggest that, not even remotely. When she began to fight a bit more defensively she spoke up to the new face, "So tell me, what's your name? I don't think I've met you before, but I must say you are quite skilled." She says honestly to the younger woman.

This makes said woman lock eyes with her and with an almost emotionless tone she responds, "No we have not met before. My name is Pricilla, the organization has only recently gave me my emblem and has raised me to the rank of number two." This makes Teresa widen her eyes, for one so young to gain a rank so high, she must be insanely powerful to have them even consider her for the top ten, much less actually giving her a rank in the top three.

"I hope you do not consider this disrespectful, but the others and I are here to collect your head. So please tell your companion to stand down, we will not harm him if you come peacefully." Teresa actually openly laughed at that making the young woman in front of her glare at her.

"Do forgive me, Pricilla was it? But Ornstein is more than capable of keeping up with warriors such as ourselves, if fact I'd be a bit more worried about the others rather than him." Teresa widened her smile when she felt the other's yoki limit increase after her casually dismissing the other Claymore in the village.

"Tell me why though, why did you not except your death when the executors came? I can't imagine your reasons must be. The guidelines the Organization created insure that we are able to work in peace, our rules allow people to feel safe and make it easier to actually keep them safe." She says in a tone of concealed rage towards the older warrior across from her.

Gripping her blade even tighter Pricilla goes on, "But since you broke those rules people fear us more than ever. You singled handily destroyed the trust that took years to develop! And that is unforgivable, so you leave me no choice. Your head is mine." She says taking a stance to once again fight.

Teresa for her part remained quiet for some time before, "What a pity. To see someone so intelligent so brainwashed by the Organization, but I suppose I owe you an answer. Unfortunately the real world isn't always so black and white, the humans we swear to protect can sometimes be the real monsters, and the beings that we look upon as something else entirely…" she trails off looking to Ornstein who was now blurring in and out of existence while juggling the other three Claymores in the heat of battle.

"…can actually be some of the world's best commodities. There's your answer, little Claymore" She says making Pricilla snap and charge at her sword already in motion.

From there the two moved with the grace of dancers and began to clash, and with each blow of their swords the town itself felt every strike.

Too close to the homes and windows would shatter, wooden doors would splinter, and people covered their ears in pain at the loud scraping of metal against metal. And once again in the streets it was no better Pricilla using her smaller size trying to move in and out of her opponent's guard, and Teresa using her years of experience and training to counter anything the younger warrior sent her way.

One brutal strike in particular from Pricilla aimed for Teresa's head spilt a good portion of the street in half. Looking to her in surprise Teresa curses knowing that this girl was going to be a problem.

Meanwhile not too far from them Irene, Noel, and Sophia were struggling to keep up with this new opponent. From what they had seen so far his greatest advantages over them were his speed, which they would have to admit even surpassed Irene's, but he was no push over in strength and that spear of his was able to best them in a contest of reach easily.

Surrounding him the three all come in at once trying to overwhelm him. Ornstein sees this and prepares himself for the three-way assault, predictably though Irene was the first to get to him and opened up with five lightning fast thrusts from her Quick Sword all of which he had to carefully dodge to the sides of not wanting to give the other two a free shot. From there Noel flipped above trying to go for his exposed head and neck, but he was able to duck and bring his spear up in time to catch the downward swing from the increasingly strong Sophia.

From there the three of them became a flow of teamwork that had to have been developed over years of experience, with Irene and Sophia shifting constantly always changing the order of who was going in to attack in order to keep him on his guard with the constant change in speed and strength and of course there was the nimble Noel that had almost managed to score a blow on Ornstein's back once when he locked up with Irene. It became increasingly clear that Ornstein would have to expand his arsenal soon or else they would overwhelm him and actually might wound him.

' _This is what I get for getting cocky.'_ He chastises himself in his mind thinking his spars with Teresa would've made him more used to the fighting style of Claymore's.

Deciding to surprise them in a big way Ornstein lets his guard drop after Irene and Noel attack from two sides and gives the illusion of him tiring.

And just as he predicted the three went to capitalize on it the second it showed, but he was waiting for them. In what seemed like slow motion to him Ornstein watched as the three drew ever closer, one hand on his spear and the other gathering power for a miracle.

Sophia sensing the same sensation as the one she felt at the inn she sees the same concentration of power in his free as last time, only it was far greater in strength than before.

She tried to warn the other two, but by the time she opened her mouth to tell them it was too late.

Smiling as they got close Ornstein casts Wrath of the Gods, and smiles in satisfaction as the three warriors are sent flying back, all of them with globs of blood spewing from their mouths.

From there two of them crashed into separate buildings while Sophia bounced across the ruined street. Climbing out of the wreckage Noel gasps as the knight suddenly appeared face to face with her, his fist coated with lightning.

Jumping as far as she could she sees him turn towards her and before she could react had a foot firmly planted in her stomach sending her flying off towards where Sophia had landed. From there he turned his attention to Irene, but was forced to back off as a familiar figure was sent flying through the street.

Seeing who it was Irene retreats to group up with the other three.

Pricilla rising to her feet looks to see the other three covered in some slowly healing bruises and some blood stains on their uniforms from their own fights.

"Damn just what the hell is he?" Noel asks wiping the blood from her mouth next to a struggling Sophia. The second warrior could only shake her as she didn't know either, if there were Yoma out there capable to producing shockwaves, or actual lightning then the Organization was going to have a lot of problems in the future.

Ornstein looks to Teresa as she appeared to his left and seemed to be out of breath and actually had a few scratches on her person from the shrapnel of her fight.

"Well you seem to handling things nicely." Teresa says to him in an amused manner seeing the other three warriors struggle against her new companion. Ornstein not even really turning to her smiles while keeping his eye on the four glaring warriors, "Sparring with you helped out quite a bit, however that doesn't mean they're styles of combat are inferior to yours. I was still forced to reveal a trick or two, and that in of itself is admirable." He says twirling his spear before resting it in his right hand by his side. Looking at where Teresa and he stood he saw that they had somehow made their way to the town's bridge, perhaps it was when they all followed the smaller one that had been thrown across the town, but it not matter at the moment.

The air seemed tense as the four hunters faced off against Teresa and Ornstein. Pricilla couldn't help but glare at the rouge in front of her, but looking to her sides she saw that her sisters were having as difficult of a time as she was. Looking to the red-haired man in the golden armor she narrows her eyes, something was definitely off about that one.

But the moment of tension soon vanished when Noel turned to her rival and saw the skid marks she had left on the road, "Wow, so Sophia how did it feel being turned into a skipping stone?" She asks humorously to her rival.

Sophia for her part never took her eyes off the knight before her and smirked hearing Noel, "It hurt, but please tell me what it's like being kicked such a great distance." She says making the former scuff at her before tightening the grip on her blade.

"You should let me handle this." Pricilla says looking to the other three around her while still glaring at Teresa, "It's cruel to have all of us here at once, let me finish her while you take her partner." She says making Ornstein smile at her, _'Foolish little child.'_

Irene on the other hand was not even thinking of letter her fight Teresa alone, "Don't be so naïve! Should she have wished it, your head would still be in the town square and not still attached. Don't let your misguided senses of honor cloud your judgment. Teresa is no longer a warrior, she is a criminal who has betrayed the Organization, and she doesn't deserve your honor. Now we've been sent here to end her existence. And that is exactly what we are going to do." She says ominously looking towards her former friend.

"Focus all your power into taking the life of that murderer." She says at the end before her own yoki power then violently exploded outwards, followed by Noel, and Sophia .

"What of the man?" Noel asks, "He's not human, no human could fight a single warrior much less three of the best. He's a threat." Irene was about to comment when they heard the sound of laughing. Looking to where it originated from they all see the armored man laughing, not a sinister laugh, yet not one of amusement either, it was one of confidence and readiness for the coming battle.

"To think that normally not too long I would find myself in shoes very similar to yours. Taking the lives of those who betrayed Anor Londo, I must say being on the other side is quite something. But here is your mistake, you focus too much on your quarry, and not her allies. I am an unknown, a factor that could never be thought of or possibly imagined, and yet you would simply ignore me. A foolish choice."

Looking over to Teresa then to the three now golden eyed warriors he puts his free hand onto Teresa's blade, "I am far more than you understand." He then gently runs his fingers over the flat side of the blade, and before another word was spoken the five Claymores watched in amazement as lightning began to dance across the blade.

"I am a friend to Teresa, and those who attempt to do harm to her are not worthy of pity nor remorse."

That seemed to be the final straw for Pricilla as she glares heatedly towards him, "Very well then, you will die with her." Before her yoki exploded as well leaving only Ornstein and Teresa as the only two to have not tapped into their true power.

Sensing where his thoughts were traveling to Teresa shakes her head, "Don't do it Ornstein they're used to monsters, not gods." Shaking his head Ornstein begins to walk back towards the inn, "Fine then, just make it quick. Clare is beginning to worry no doubt." He says placing his spear onto his back and then he began to walk away from them.

Sophia wanting a bit of payback though disappeared going after him. In her state of anger though she did not even spare a glance to the Irene who was trying to call out to her in warning.

When she was no more than a few feet away Ornstein suddenly stops and turns to her, "You're not fast enough to even try to touch me." He says and before she could even blink he vanished, and in his place stood Teresa, her sword still coated in lightning.

"And this is where your fight ends." She says before effortlessly slicing through her shoulder and almost all the way down to her stomach.

Sophia gasping in pain drops to her knees as she feels the electricity of Teresa's blade snaking its way through her body, she felt it cramping up, locking down, and almost black out entirely as she fell down and struggled to keep her eyes open.

"Sophia!" Irene yells seeing one of her fellow warriors go down in a single swing. The remaining three then charge in together as they tried to push the rouge warrior back to where they would hold more ground.

Teresa for her part almost didn't acknowledge that they were there at all. As she felt the lightning coursing over her blade she felt it enter into her arm and with it a whole new feeling came with it. Her arm felt lighter, faster, more powerful and from there she felt the lightning quickly travel throughout the rest of her body, from her toes to her eyes she felt the lightning do incredible things to her.

And it felt exhilarating, now while this wasn't like releasing yoki like in some of her more serious spars with Ornstein, if you could even call them spars as craters, patches of destroyed landscape, and miles of slash marks on the ground would say otherwise. This was something else entirely, it coursed through her whole body and not just the key parts like yoki would travel to.

She then turns to the remaining three warriors and smirks as Noel and Irene were the first two to appear before her. Smirking she nimbly dodges between the two blades and without even looking towards her brings her sword up to block Pricilla's.

The three were at a lose of words at the moment, here Teresa was casually fighting them off as if they weren't even able to register a threat. From here Teresa broke Irene's guard before planting a solid kick to her gut, knocking the wind out of her and sending her flying backwards.

She then swings her sword around and lands a furious slash onto Noel's back, nearly slicing her spine. Said Claymore then drops to her knees in pain as the electricity courses through her veins and sends dangerous amounts of voltage directly into her heart. Noel felt her world slipping as she fell face first into the street and quickly succumbed to darkness and slipped into a blissful sleep.

From here Teresa turns towards the only two conscious warriors left and smirked seeing the expressions of shock and disbelief on their faces. "What's the matter, I thought you were here for my head." She says giving them a mock bow, "If that's true then come get it."

Pricilla in her blind anger rushed forward and had a struggling Irene trying to catch up to the younger warrior. Teresa though stood calm and ready for the two of them, slightly changing her stance to give her a bit more forward momentum she then cracks the ground where she once stood and charged forward, with her blade blurring as it moved with a vicious purpose between the two supposed executioners.

When she landed next to the entrance of the bridge where the collapsed form of Sophia lay she slowly put her sword back onto her back and felt the lightning disappear as soon as her blade was sheathed and then she made her way back to the two, now wounded warriors.

Irene had caught the worst of the attack as both her shoulders had deep lacerations, though surprisingly she was able to remain awake even with lightning literally running all over her insides. Pricilla on the other hand was struggling to keep her eyes open, she had caught Teresa's first attack and was bleeding from her chest quite heavily, though what was surprising was the fact that she was only on her hands and knees and not completely out cold like the other two and soon to be third.

Walking over to her Teresa looks over the girl as she could see tears dripping onto the ground Teresa still had to remind herself that this warrior who held so much potential so still only a child. But she was a threat to her, to Ornstein, to Victor, but most importantly to Clare.

Drawing her sword she was about to bring it down and remove her head, but something held her back. Looking up she sees Clare looking at her next to a helmless Victor and Ornstein. She blocked out whatever Pricilla was mumbling in favor of looking them over, Victor held nothing in gaze as he looked at her and the four downed warriors littering the street, he held no say as to what would happen next, and he really didn't care. Ornstein's fiery stare told her to do it if necessary, he was like her able to sense what she could become, but then again that was a long time from now. And besides if she ever did grow that strong it still be the two of them against her, she could live with those odds.

But what made her stay her hand mostly was Clare, she looked at her with eyes of concern and a small dose of fear. She wasn't ready to see this kind of death yet, she was unconscious when the bandits were killed, and Teresa had only wounded her executioners the first time, so seeing as she wasn't ready to face any kind of death just yet Teresa sheathed her blade and walked towards them. "I swear I'm going soft. I blame you Ornstein."

"Yes, yes of course blame me. But I think there's a conscience in you, somewhere." He says in a joking manner as Teresa then looks to Clare who was currently holding all their belongings.

"I got everything Teresa, even this thing you wear around your waist." She says holding up everything for her to see. Smiling Teresa affectionately brushed some of her hair out of her face, "You actually brought that too? Must have been heavy?" Clare only shakes her head before handing it to her.

Teresa then turns to the only two conscious members of the hunting party with her trademark smile, "You can attack all you want, but I'll defeat you at each encounter." Hearing this Ornstein rolls his eyes, "Oh yes of course mighty Teresa defeated them, I'm here too you know. And if I recall correctly I did give you a severe advantage when fighting them." Ornstein says shaking his head at the fact that Teresa completely forgot about him.

Teresa only glares at him with a deadpan expression before shaking her head. They then all of them begin to walk out of the town, Ornstein in front Teresa and Clare behind him, and Victor bringing up the rear.

As they passed each of the fallen warriors Ornstein paused for a second when he saw Irene glaring from the ground, "I suppose leaving you and asking something of you is a bit too much to ask for but I suppose I can't hurt." He then goes down one knee and leans forward a bit. "Have you by any chance heard of any other knights that wear armor like Victor's?"

Irene for her part looked on in a heated glare as this knight casually fought them, gave Teresa a blade blessed with lightning, and then simply decided to so casually speak to her after fighting her to the near death. _'Who are you?'_ Irene ponders in her mind watching him catch up to the others. "I suppose that's a no." He says walking away from her.

As they passed the terrified town's people Victor couldn't help but smile sheepishly before dropping off yet another bag of coins, "Um…sorry about the mess." He says sheepishly.

As they made their way out of town though Teresa looks over to Ornstein, "I saw that back there, what did you ask her?" She asks annoyed at him. Ornstein for his part didn't even look at her, "Well it wouldn't hurt to ask around a bit for anyone like Victor, I'm still generally surprised that I managed to find one of the knight formerly under my command." She looks to him with another deadpan look basically telling him to come clean now rather than have her find out later.

"Alright then, say this there is still a very good chance of the other knights hearing if more people know of Victor and I. The faster we gather them the faster we can find a way back to Anor Londo."

Hearing that he was searching for a way home brought a wave of something almost akin to sadness to Teresa. Though she wasn't quite sure why, true he was good company, an excellent sparring partner, and of course a solid foundation for Clare to look towards when her own faults became clear. Though there was something else deep down that she seemed to be missing, something that she had never felt before towards anyone, but she couldn't put her finger on what it was.

Then without warning both she and Ornstein sensed a massive release of yoki coming from the direction of the town, "Alright then it seems as if one has caught her second wind." Teresa says turning around to face Pricilla who was fast approaching.

Landing not too far from the small party Pricilla looked much worse for wear than Ornstein had expected, for one her eyes had changed, but that wasn't anything new to him as he had seen Teresa's change before and he had seen the other three undergo the same transformation.

What he didn't expect were the noticeable changes in her face and teeth, her face seemed to be bulging outwards with multiple veins most of them lining her hair and jaw line but there were a few that seemed to have snaked their way up her cheeks and down her forehead. As for her teeth they reminded him along the teeth of shark or the hydra than anything else.

Locking eyes with the girl Teresa frowned seeing her condition, "Don't do it, with the state you're in now we could fight over and over, but you'll never win." Hearing this only made the girl push even more yoki into her body causing a flash of purple light to surround her as she grit her teeth in both pain and rage.

"I don't think that's what she wanted to hear." Victor says slowly bringing out his bow in case things went bad. Teresa shakes her head, "No she's too much for you." Victor looks to his captain who then nodded his head in agreement, "Leave her to me or Teresa, this one is out of your league Victor, take Clare somewhere safe." He commands making the archer sigh knowing that his captain was right.

Putting away his bow Teresa then looks back to Pricilla, "Let it go Pricilla, if you use too much power without the proper training, you won't be able to turn back. When we mix-breeds use ten percent of our power our eyes change color, at thirty it shows in our faces…" Hearing this made Ornstein raise a brow at the thought.

' _So up until now she hasn't used more than thirty percent of her strength in our little spars. I guess that's fair after all she has only seen what sunlight miracles can do once. I haven't even thought about how much she's been holding back, because I've been focused on doing the same thing. One day Teresa, one day I want to have a real fight with you, one with nothing held back.'_ He says in his own head before focusing back to the kicking time bomb that was Pricilla.

"…At fifty our physiques change, however once you surpass eighty percent you have no hope of ever being normal again. As it stands right now, you should already be well over seventy." She says but was cut off when Pricilla charged towards her an almost insane grin plastered on her face showing off her razor sharp teeth. "SHUT UP!" She yells at Teresa before slamming their swords together.

And before Clare could say a thing or even call out Teresa's name in concern Victor had already picked her up in his arms and jumped well over the battle to higher ground.  
Teresa seeing that she was now at a safe distance focuses solely on Pricilla who was trying to overpower her, "Murderer, you're nothing but a murderer!" Pricilla shouts in rage before the muscles on her arms and legs bulged and nearly doubled in size from the amount of yoki being used in them it got to the point where the armor she wore on her forearms snapped at the increase in size.

Seeing this Teresa frowns and begins to put a bit more strength into her arms trying to gain the upper hand, "The limits to which you can use your power are something you have to learn over time, you on the other hand lack that level of experience completely." Teresa says in a brutally honest tone.

Snarling at her Pricilla then shoves her backwards and leaps into the air, "SHUT UP!" She yells in total fury as she came crashing down on top of Teresa attempting to run her sword through Teresa. Leaping away Teresa couldn't help but be impressed by the sheer amount of yoki she was using.

' _Her yoki is massive, I can't even read the energy flow.'_ She says in her head before moving to the side in order to avoid Pricilla's next attack that came from her ridiculously extended arm, dodging to the side she watches as Pricilla wraps her own arms around her body and bring it back towards her a second time, only much faster.

Deflecting it at the last moment Teresa feels a cut form on her forehead, looking towards her opponent with a new level of concern over her growing power.

Meanwhile up on the cliff Victor, Clare, and Ornstein watched in a mix of disgust and intrigue from the two knights, and a worried and scared expression coming from the young girl.

"Extending one's arm to such an extent, I must say that does have its advantages in combat." Victor says honestly thinking of all the way he or even Ornstein could use that in kind of ability in their own respected fighting styles. Ornstein hearing the archer decides to keep his eyes focused on Pricilla and Teresa rather than turn towards him, "Yes it does, and apparently the recovery time of using that ability is nonexistent. She instantly put her arm back into its socket. Quite a formidable ability indeed." He says knowing that it was dangerous for the user as it left them open for dismemberment, that's why she wrapped her arms around her own torso. To keep Teresa from slicing it off.

Keeping his interest on Pricilla he noticed that her skin had turned a light shade of purple, her jaw line had extended some, but what he noticed most was the tone of her voice had changed from anger filled shouts to quiet whispers almost.

"So she is truly going mad. Teresa had better finish this soon. Those who hold no regard for their own being are the most dangerous." He says in a concerned tone of voice.

Teresa for her part watched as Pricilla hunched over some as she began to quietly mumble, "How dare you kill my father…how dare you…unforgivable…." Teresa then felt her power slowly become even stronger as her voice quickly gained volume, "Just die! You hear me? I'll kill you! **I'LL KILL YOU!"** Shouts in a blind almost berserker like state.

Teresa merely stood there and watched as the purple energy known as yoki began to surge throughout the air around Pricilla, _'Her self-awareness is fading quickly. Fine then…it looks like I've run out of options. Looks like I found someone else besides you Ornstein that I'll have to put a bit of effort to fighting.'_ She then laughs to herself before closing her eyes to concentrate.

And when she opened them, her pools of shining silver became the golden eyes of a true predator. And then Teresa of the faint smile, fought on a whole other level.

 **On the cliff**

With Ornstein and the other two watching the fight they began to notice a shift in the fight as soon as Teresa began to tap into her true power Ornstein had been able to feel it. "It's about time." He said mostly to himself, but also to the three newly arrived warriors that seemed to be in a state of shock towards the fight, or a tone of anger seeing him and the other knight watching the fight.

"Damn, unbelievable. The yoki auras I'm sensing are insane!" Noel says with a bead of sweat slowly making its way down her face.

Sophia was in total agreement, "I agree, at this point it's just two monsters over there. What the hell are we supposed to against that?" She says in a small tone of panic.

Irene for her part remained calm, "Both auras are greater than anything I've ever seen. But…" She trails off in head.

"One is much greater than the other. Isn't that right?" Ornstein says getting their attention. All three of them turning towards the mysterious stranger that Teresa seemed to fond of meet his gaze and he motions his head for them to meet with him.

When they walked the small distance and stood next to him Irene narrowed her eyes at him, he was still a complete mystery to her and the others and that alone made him a danger to them. "If you're wondering which pool of power is the greater of the two, you're fooling yourselves into thinking its Pricilla's."

They all looks to him then to the battle, and what they saw seemed to match his claim, Pricilla was already looking like she was close to the breaking point, while Teresa had only changed her eye color.

"And yes that is indeed your young companion. And…" Ornstein cut himself off as a shockwave forced everyone except Irene and himself to cover their eyes. "…never mind."

Ignoring him the three turn to one another, "Is she?" Sophia asks the question all of them had been thinking. Irene shakes her head, "Not yet, she still has not passed her limit. If we stop her now then she should be able to revert back to human. If we're able to stop her! How does one even begin to fight against such a fantastic unbridled power like that?!" It was here that Ornstein could not help himself and burst out laughing.

All of them look to him in both annoyance and questioning, "That is a very simple answer, in order to defeat such a wild power, all one has to do is find a controlled power that rivals it. Believe me I know that a controlled power will win every time. And Teresa is still very much in complete control right now. This fight will be over soon." He says to them making them raise a brow as they looked on in awe almost at the battle happening before them.

They watch as Pricilla after sustaining a shoulder wound fought increasingly wild and unfocused, swinging more uncontrolled, wasting energy and leaving herself open.

And as expected the moment one of her attack came in just a bit too slow, Teresa capitalized on it and slashed through her other shoulder. But Pricilla was still coming at her, no matter how many smaller blows Teresa would land she still tried again. They then lock up, but in her state Pricilla was unable to truly watch her footwork and because of this Teresa was able to send her flying through a rock formation.

"Told you." Ornstein says simply looking over their faces of shock.

"A-Amazing, and she's only using enough power to change her eye color." Irene says in awe towards her former friend. Ornstein though chuckles.

Noel though having heard enough snaps at him, "And just what the hell is so funny?" She snarls at him. Ornstein just looks to her, "You think that Teresa is so incredible, and she is only releasing ten percent of her power. You thought Pricilla was your ultimate weapon against her most likely, and here she is nothing more than a wild beast rather than a well-trained warrior. What would you say if I told you that I've fought her at this level and kept up with her?" He says making them all turn towards him with scuffs of disbelief and generally ignoring that.

"Believe me if you want, all I'm saying is that she's only just beginning."

Back to the fight Teresa was slowly approaching the downed Pricilla who was trying to catch her breath while leaning against the collapsed rock formation. "While you can still hear me heed my words. You're reaching your limit, suppress your Yoma side and revert to human." Pricilla didn't say a thing.

Seeing as this was her queue to go on she does, "Now focus you've got to. You are fast approaching the point of no return." It was quite for some time before Ornstein's words once again echoed in her head.

"Her soul is tainted with madness."

And it seemed that those words were beginning to ring true, "My daddy…give me back my daddy…Daddy was always so **kind to** me…I loved him so much…And **he ate** them, he made me watch it all. **He ate their innards, right in front of me!"** She finished he tone of voice no more than a strained whisper occasionally slipping into a slightly deeper tone.

She then once again exploded off the ground and managed to actually make it behind Teresa. She brought her sword down only to have it blocked by the older warrior, **"And that's when I had to kill my daddy, while he was eating my big sister! I chopped off his head! He made me do it!"** She yells in fury before he clothes on her back ripped open showing her bones shifting, trying to make room for something to appear.

The sounds of muscles shifting and bones moving to new places filled the air causing Clare to cover her mouth in shock while the others seemed to dawn looks of condolence knowing that it was too late.

Irene in a look of shock and almost sadness looks to the others, "She's past her limit, that's it." Ornstein nods knowing what was to happen next, Teresa would have to kill her now. She has become a threat to not only their little group, but also the people of this land as well.

" **I can't go back! Help** me please, you have to. **I don't** …I don't want to live like this!" She says convulsing it pain on her knees in front of Teresa.

Irene and the others looked on in somber eyes, it is for the best that she dies now, as a with a human mind.

Looking at the former warrior in front of her Teresa closed her eyes and began to lock away her yoki once again, "I'm sorry, but it is no longer in my power to help you. The best I can give you is a swift beheading before you are completely taken over by your Yoma side."

Pricilla lowering her head in what looked like shame then whispered to her, "Then please, take my head. While my heart is still human."

Teresa nods, "So be it, I will make sure that you do not suffer."

Unknown to her though Pricilla's hand was ever so slowly reaching towards the sword laying on the ground in front of her. Something that only Ornstein saw. But it was too late, in a flash of motion Pricilla had cut off Teresa's hands from just above the wrist.

"NO!" He shouts picking up his spear he pumps an absurd amount of power into his legs before leaving small craters where his feet once stood when he leapt into the air. And soared towards Teresa who held a look of shock looking to now disfigured arms.

Time seemed to slow down for everyone watching as Pricilla ascended to finish off Teresa, but she hesitated when out of the corner of her eye a gleam of gold appeared in front of her.

This gleam turned out to be Ornstein who had appeared between the two with his spear catching the sword, and his free hand coated with bright yellow lightning quickly moving to her face. Pricilla had no way to counter it or even prepare herself as she was hit with the force of a thunderstorm directly to the jaw, sending her flying backwards skipping across the rocky ground like a pebble thrown across the water.

All was still for a moment as Teresa stood there motionless torn between looking to her own disfiguration or to Ornstein who had just saved her life. Irene, Sophia, and Noel couldn't believe the speed of Ornstein as essentially he had appeared before Pricilla mid swing and sent her flying away from Teresa with a single punch.

"Teresa, forgive me but I think it would best if I took over from here." He says dead serious as light emerged from the direction he had punch Pricilla towards, "This is only going to get worse." He says before stabbing his spear into the ground and picking her up bridal style.

And no less than a second later he had placed Teresa next to Victor and a now crying Clare who wrapped her arms around Teresa the moment she saw her. He then looks to the other three Claymore with a look of warning and slightly raising his power he glares into their very souls, "Attack her and I will turn each of you into dust." He says before returning to his spear.

What he saw when he returned was the monster that Pricilla had become. She retained a somewhat human shape but she had grown some standing a bit taller than Teresa and Irene now, but not quite to his level. Her skin tone had gone from the purplish tone he saw earlier to more of a mixture of blue-violet. Her head was still humanoid in shape but she had grown a single lone horn in the middle of her head, and her biggest change by far had to be the huge pair of wings that had sprouted from her back.

" **I never knew it would feel this good. Was this what all that fuss was about? I don't see why, I feel incredible."** She says to herself stretching out her wings and soaking in the sun.

" **But now I'm hungry, and I'll think I'll start with you lightning knight."** She says before charging Ornstein with her sword arm extended and poised to strike. Ornstein not wanting to back down charges with her and the two lock blades.

Pricilla's relatively unimpressed golden eyes seemed to burn into his fiery red. **"Is this all the strength you have?"** She asks him only for him to smirk and disappear.

Then in a moment of what Pricilla could only describe as pure agony she felt several lightning quick attack from all angles.

She brings her sword up to swing but finds it locked against the guard of his spear, looking into his furious red eyes Ornstein then unleashes over a dozen well placed lightning infused punches to her face, stomach and shoulders. Stunning her Ornstein then plants his spear and spins before slashing open one of her legs and then kicking her away.

Pricilla snarling at him heals her leg at an incredible rate before glaring at him, "To answer your question no, that is not all the strength I have. It funny though you boast of your new power, but you're still not fast enough." He says vanishing once again.

On the cliff the three warriors looked on in what was almost akin to horror, "What the hell is that guy!?" Noel asks Teresa who was still taking deep breaths trying to heal her wounds.

"That is Dragon Slayer Ornstein." They all then turn to Victor who had taken a seat next to Clare and had taken out a few bandages for Teresa, "Where we come from it is virtual suicide to challenge him. I've seen the man face demons taller than building and kill hundreds of hallows with a single miracle. He's not someone to loose a fight so easily, Teresa knows just how strong her is." They then look to the two of them with eyes wide with shock hearing about him, but quickly turned towards Teresa when they heard her laugh.

"I guess those stories of him killing gods are true after all."

Back with said Dragon Slayer he and the monster that Pricilla had become were currently having hit and run clashes, and with every clash the ground cracked slightly from the force.

Roaring in frustration Pricilla rushed him and actually threw her sword towards him. Of course he managed to dodge it, but what came next was much, much harder to do so.

Lifting her hands towards him all of Pricilla's fingers and the spikes from her elbows all shot towards him like lances all of them swirling and curving every time he dodged one.

Gritting his teeth as he knew he would have to get close he pushes power into his legs before leaping into the air with a Wrath of the Gods miracle already waiting for her when she came for him.

And indeed they did, as soon he was directly above her all of her lances came screaming towards her, only to pushes away violently and nearly broken from the sudden force. But his attack did not end there as Ornstein then began to plummet towards her spear at the ready to impale her.  
However instead of fear he sees the monster smirk before her horn extended and he had to abandon his attack in order to deflect it and by then her other lances had recovered and were once again on the attack.

Going inside trying to get close he then has to chose between avoiding the lances or her sword, going with her lances Ornstein braces himself as he uses a small Force miracle to repel the attack and retreat to a safe distance.

Looking over his situation Ornstein knew that he had to finish this before she kept healing herself.

Pricilla only glared at him, for all her new power she was still struggling against this stranger. She had Teresa in her hands, and this outsider saved her! Unacceptable!

Gritting her teeth she digs into her vast amounts of yoki and large cracks appear on the rocks around her as her muscles begin to grow as her strength increases and she extended her hand to pick up her sword again.

Ornstein though remained calm and searched deep inside of his own power and those cracks forming on the ground began to grow even larger in size as storm clouds seemed to appear in the sky.

Everyone else besides Teresa looked up to the clouds as flashes of lightning appeared in the pitch black clouds, Teresa though had her eyes locked onto Ornstein golden clad form. He seemed to be glowing even brighter than normal when he uses his power in their sparing sessions, and only once did clouds form when she was near him. And that was when Rokut was destroyed.

From there the clouds seemed to settle over Ornstein and Pricilla as the two locked eyes Pricilla twitching her hands preparing to strike, while Ornstein simply stood there calm and collected, much like the brewing storm.

And in the blink of an eye both vanished and clashed once again, only this time Pricilla was loosing more and more position as Ornstein's speed and strength increased before lightning exploded across the blade. From there Pricilla jumped back to avoid the weapon as it made her spasm in pain every time her sword made contact.

"You're not the brightest are you?" He says still with a tone of serious nature, but with an undine of humor seeing the mighty creature have to calm her own arm.

Pricilla only continues to glare at him, before smiling a toothy grin. Ornstein feeling as if something incredibly bad was headed his way feels the earth shift under his feet, and before he could figure out what was happening multiple lances emerged out of the ground and began to dance around him in attempts to pin him down.

Ornstein then felt something pierce him in the side as he stopped movement to rip it out of him before flashing away. He then took a split second to assess his situation. Looking to her feet she sees the lances retract and return to her revealing them to be her toes.

She then began to laugh seeing that she had hurt him and licked her lips as she brought her foot close before wiping the blood off and slowly licking it. **"Oh yes, you will be a fine meal."**

Ornstein didn't respond and merely reached into his bottomless box and removed his helm.  
Putting on his helm everyone watched before a wave of what could be described as pure power washed over the area. The clouds seemed to grow increasingly violent with lightning flashing and thunder crackling with Ornstein steadily growing in power. Eventually though where the Claymore would glow purple when accessing their own power Ornstein began to glow a bright yellow.

He then raised his spear and shifted his stance into that of a charge, Pricilla seeing where this was headed gladly accepts his challenge and raises her sword and charges with him.

But what happened next she never saw coming, in a single moment Ornstein was in her guard running his spear through her stomach.

Screeching in agony she looks at the snarling lion helm and widen her eyes as she could feel the power radiating off of him. He then continued to run smashing her through columns of rock and then he sent her flying off the end of his spear virtually ripping out a chuck of her.

But it didn't end there as Ornstein thrust his spear towards her and sent a bolt of bright yellow lightning into her still airborne form, once again sending her crashing into the earth.

"Amazing…" Noel says plainly watching this battle between two beings that transcended human. Victor looks to her having finished Teresa's wrapping and he had also given her some red-clump help her stay conscious until she could be properly healed.

"My captain has fought ever since he was created, if there is one thing he's good at it's combat. And it looks like he's truly beginning to fight now." He says looking to the clouds then to the glow radiating off the armor figure in the distance.

Pricilla rising to her feet again after closing her wound, looks to the burnt and scared flesh surrounding it, it was taking longer than she thought to heal the wound. But right now she snapped her head around to see the steadily approaching figure that seemed to have ruined everything for her today.

Taking flight she raised her sword and Ornstein charged lightning now surrounding his person as the two of them narrowly avoided one another. Ornstein though turned and slashed towards her neck nearly decapitating her. Pricilla though maneuvered herself around and aimed his lances at his stomach.

And she grinned in victory as she felt two of them find their marks in his flesh, but there was no scream of pain, no twitch of agony, not even a flinch.

Looking towards him she does not have a moment to even comprehend what she is seeing before she is thrown to the ground. Once forcefully grounded Pricilla looks to the knight and snarls seeing as yes two lances were in him, the others hand all been caught either in his hands of under his arms. She then once again looks into those seemingly empty eye sockets and saw nothing but what looked like burning fires staring back at her.

And then the pain hit, struggling to work past the spasms she sees him electrocuting every single one of her lances.

' _ **He let himself be hit!'**_ She realizes too late, however before she collapsed to her knees the Awakened Being managed to hold her ground before she threw the knight into the air.

Flying up to finish him off Ornstein turns his body in order to twirl his spear and was rewarded with knocking her lances off course and her landed a shot to her temple knocking once again to the earth, forming another crater in the landscape.

But he wasn't finished as with a mighty war cry Ornstein started to descend to the earth his feet covered in lightning coming straight for the wide-eyed Awakened. Pushing herself up with her feet she was able to flip over her head and avoid the living lightning bolt that crashed into the ground kicking up a great amount of dust and clouding her vision.

She then hears a single breath almost in her ear before she was once again screaming in pain. Ornstein managed to appear behind her using his impact almost as a spring board and had run his spear all the way to the guard into Pricilla's stomach before kicking her off the blade and slashing at her legs, and finishing off the combo with a brutal Wrath of the Gods point blank.

He then hears the labored breathing of his opponent and turns to see her rising once again, though she still had a savage looking wound where he had run her through. **"You…I hate you."** She says with venom in her voice looking towards him.

She then takes flight once again before sending all the lances she could summon from her fingers, her toes, and her elbows, even her kneecaps turned into pseudo projectiles.

Scuffing seeing all of them coming from different angles Ornstein charged all the power he could muster in a brief moment before slamming his foot down and causing a shower of lightning bolts to rise from the ground and vaporize the tips of every single lance.

Pricilla still in shock barley had time to prepare herself as Ornstein once again appeared in front of her but she was able to bring her sword up in time to block his spear from stabbing her once again.

She then extended her horn, the one lance she didn't use and pierced Ornstein in the shoulder making him drop his spear and give her free reign over the fight, **"You're all mine!"** She shouts in joy thinking she had won the fight.

Only for that joy to quickly dissipate as he stomped down onto her sword holding it in place with both his weight and strength. She then watches in horror as he raises his arm up and clenching his hand a another bolt of lightning was formed, only this one was golden in color rather than bright yellow as the others had been.

Teresa recognized it as the same kind of bolt he had used to destroy a city.

Victor remembered the times where he had used this miracle to destroy hordes of Capra demons.

Clare recalled something akin to this in a dream she had once had.

And as for the other three Claymores, their jaws were firmly planted onto the ground.

He then looked Pricilla directly in eyes before bringing it down no more than a foot away from the monster she had become.

And in a flash of pure brilliance their forms disappeared for a second, but you could tell they were there as the painful cries of a monster could be heard. Pricilla was currently screaming her lungs out.

When the light died they could still see both figures, but only Ornstein was left standing.

Pricilla had no legs to stand on.

Ornstein looks to the legless form of Pricilla as she desperately tried to crawl away from his intimidating form, the lightning still coating his armor as he slowly made his way towards her. **"S-STAY AWAY!"** She screams in terror as he was almost to her, she was actually thankful that the blast had knocked her backwards.

Picking herself up with her arms she throws herself into the air and opens her wings to fly away as fast as she could. Ornstein's gaze never leaves her form as he raised his arm and was prepared to hurl a lightning spear to finish her off, but something in his peripheral caught his attention.

Teresa's severed hands, still clutching her sword. He lowers his hand knowing Teresa still needed to be healed, otherwise she'll never be able to fight again. Snapping himself out of his thoughts he turns back to Pricilla who seemed to be moving faster than he originally thought.

She was already too far, perhaps he did underestimate her speed. But then again she was a lot lighter than when the battle had started.

Letting go of his power Ornstein walked over to Teresa's hands and before making his way over to the others.

"Teresa, come over here." He says to her somewhat urgently before motioning Clare to come over to him as well.

He was about to explain what he wanted her to do, but the girl was currently hugging the life out of him with tears cascading off her cheeks. Removing his helm and leaning close to her Ornstein hugs her back and runs his hand through her hair. "It's alright Clare, but I need you to do something for me."

Stepping back from him Clare looks at what was in his other hand, "A-Are those? What I think they are." Curiously it wasn't Clare who said that, he looks to Sophia who seemed to be the only one capable of speaking among the three would be executions.

"Yes they are, now who's going to hold them for Teresa?" This causes everyone to look at him like he was crazy before Victor walked forward, "I might as well do it captain."

They both then go over to Teresa who couldn't but laugh a bit seeing her own hands being brought to her.

Holding her hands over where they should go after removing her bandages Victor firmly holds the stumps against their respected hands.  
Ornstein then goes down onto one knee and cast the miracle Soothing Sunlight. Feeling the familiar warmth spread across her being Teresa looks down and to her shock they were almost completely attached to her body. Cursing himself Ornstein goes to cast the miracles again, but immediately after casting started to cough roughly.

"I was never the best at conserving power with that one." He says in a tired voice, though only Victor heard it clearly as Clare and crying at seeing her mother figures hands attached again.

The other warriors look to him in nothing short of awe as he slowly rises from the ground, "What are you?" Irene says bluntly to him.

Ornstein looks to Teresa and then Clare, "I'm a knight of Anor Londo, and captain of its armies. Nothing more." He says before dropping onto his ass and smiling seeing the reactions of the warriors and Clare at what he had down for Teresa.

Noel was temped to demand for more, but stopped herself when Teresa got to her own feet and tested out her hands again by crushing a small rock in her hands, "Good as new." She says to herself before looking to her former friends all of them hesitant to even be standing their in the presence of her and Ornstein.

"Here's what's going to happen. You are three are going back to the Organization and you're going to tell them to fuck off and leave me alone. I don't care what they do to you, because there is nothing that I can't do to make it worse."

Irene though seemed to be snapped out of her own stupor hearing her friend's tone, "The Organization will have our heads if we return without yours, and the fact that we allowed Pricilla to awaken does not present our case in a better life then. It would be best if we disappeared for now." She says seeing her old friend smile at that decision.

"Irene you can't be serious!?" Sophia yells at her causing Victor to finally speak up after having heard this talk of desertion.

"Sophia was it? Tell me this what options do you truly have? If this Organization did indeed tell you to basically not comeback unless you have her head," he says pointing to Teresa. "That's never going to happen. And you're already dead if you try to go back empty handed, what happens if you go back with less than when you came out?"

Sophia opened her mouth to respond, but quickly closed when she realized that he was right. They would loose rank, at best. Worst case, being having that **"man"** allowed to do with them as he pleases. And that was fate worse than death.

"Fine, so what now?" She asks.

Irene thought for some time before she began to look towards the sun. "I have a safe place not too far to the west, it is a few days walk from here. But the Organization does not know of it."

Noel though asked the question she had been thinking of for some time, "And just what do you think will happen when the Organization hears of us deserting?"

This makes Ornstein who was still sitting next to Clare laugh a bit, "Well at this point they've lost warriors one through five, so I'd guess that you're fine for a few years at least."

Teresa actually smiles at the joke and moved to join him and Clare. Happy to be alive and grateful to the man who saved her.

She then looks to said man and couldn't help but smile as he appeared to have fallen asleep with his battle with the Claymore, Pricilla, and even healing her finally catching up to him.

She then looks over herself as she had to admit to herself having Ornstein healing her, always made her feel contempt for some odd reason. But it was then that something caught her eye.

Her surgical scar, was slightly smaller and appeared to be slightly healed.

 **Far to the West**

A single being sat at the mouth of a cave clutching a greatsword as he planted into the ground for support .

This being held gaze to the floor and seemed to be staring off into space with his bright orange eyes and in the darkness of the cave only made those eyes stand out even more.

His armor was that of a Black Knight, but he was missing his shield, along with the arm that was supposed to hold it.

This was Sebastian, the oldest of Ornstein's company wielder of the Black Knight greatsword.

' _I felt it, captain you're out there somewhere. And I do pray to Gwyn that I find you soon, so much as happened and you must be warned of what is coming.'_ He thinks solemnly before looking to where his arm once was then to the rain falling outside mouth of his temporary shelter.

 **Further to the North**

At the same moment elsewhere on the island a small portal opened up. And out of it fell a single item, cursed in nature but soothing in practice.

Perhaps the real test was to come as this land was to soon be touched with embers and if not handled properly, turned to ash.

 **And done…well damn this one turned out a bit longer than I thought it would've.**

 **But anyway please do not forget to Read and Review with what you all thought of the chapter.**

 **And be honest who thought I was going to kill Teresa?**

 **Stay Cool**


	7. New Goals

I do not own Dark Souls or Claymore

 **Surprise, surprise I'm actually updating this story. And yeah I know that it's been too long, but that ends now. Nothing's dead until I give it permission to die.**

 **But jokes aside I want to thank DMD Hanafin- Even though it maybe wasn't your intension to get me off my lazy ass and update. I saw your review and it was kinda like a jump start.**

 **Anyway just finished The Ringed City and good God I wanted to kick a baby through a window dealing with those fucking angels! But the final boss was a blast to fight.**

 **But moving on it actually gave me a few ideas with the story so as they say, take the good with the bad.**

"Speech"

' _Thoughts'_

" **Dark Character Speech"**

' _ **Dark Character Thoughts'**_

 **Chapter 7: New Goals**

Some time has passed since the Organization had sent four of their top warriors to execute Teresa for her crimes of taking human lives. And since the titanic battle between the general of Anor Londo and the now awakened Pricilla and in that time the small group consisting of Ornstein, Teresa, Clare, and now Victor had formed a somewhat strange family with Clare now fully accepting both the former number one and the Dragon Slayer as her parents or guardians rather with Victor being somewhat of a polite and caring sibling figure.

It has been a little over three years since the day that Ornstein wounded the monster known and Pricilla, and for now things were peaceful. However all three fighters among the group knew that the Organization wasn't done with them. They would create warriors to replace the ones they lost, they always did.

But until that day came both Teresa and Ornstein threw themselves into training, trying to hone their skills to perfection. And now even Clare was beginning to fight for herself.

This is where they stand today, next to a small series of cliffs to the western side of the island that all of them called home.

"Again. And this time put more of your weight into it, and try to control the sword's momentum."

Ornstein instructed to his young trainee. While he stood proud and relaxed without his armor overlooking a roughed up and dirty Clare. But all he got was tired look with a pleading meaning behind it asking the former Captain to take it easier on her. "Sorry Clare, but you asked me to train you while Teresa is sparring with Victor."

Clare only sighs, "Yes, but could we take a small break? I've been at this for hours." The now teenage Clare asks her father figure. The knight sighs before laughing a bit, "Fine you have and hour, but then you will be practicing till nightfall, or else Teresa is going to hear about you wandering into that brothel at the last town we were in." This makes the almost sixteen-year-old Clare grow a blush that completely covered her face and left her a stuttering mess.

Ornstein merely laughs at the girl's reaction and motions for her to follow him towards the cliff. Where she began to hear the sounds of metal hitting against metal, and sure enough the close to the edge she came the louder the sounds became.

Looking over to where Ornstein was he chose to stand with his arms crossed a small grin on his lips as he could twitching with excitement, call it his nature as a Dragon Slayer or his history for training under a War God, but the sounds of battle excited him.

And looking down onto one of Gwyn's elite knights sparring with the best the Organization had ever produced it was enough to get his blood pumping just watching.

 **With the Combatants**

Teresa herself was no different at the moment she somewhat hated to admit it but she was like Ornstein when it came to fighting. Neither of them could ignore a good fight when it is presented to them. And now was no different.

She ducks under Victor's blade and goes for his legs only to have her sword stopped by the knight's shield and she was forced to jump back to reassess her bought with the archer.

It was always fun to the woman to face new kinds of opponents, from her first mission to kill a Yoma, to fighting an Awakened Being for the first time every variation in the battle made her all the more interested in the fight.

But now fighting characters like Ornstein and Victor they were different in so many ways than she was used to she couldn't help but dawn her famous smile. They fought without Yoki, they fought with powers beyond anything she could imagine. Using lightning the forces of nature themselves to aid them in combat it put a whole new twist on her sparring sessions with them.

From Ornstein with his incredible speed, precision, physical strength that even rivaled hers, and most dangerous of all his ability to command and control lightning itself turning cities into nothing and wounding the greatest awakened being she'd ever seen. He was aggressive, using his speed to overwhelm and then overpower. And if he knew they would be more resilient to certain attacks he would simply switch up his approach and before they knew it he would be there in their guard running them through. And he always kept people on their toes with plenty of tricks in his back pockets as surprises for some of his more interesting fights.

And then there was Victor, an archer by nature, but not exactly a slouch when it came to swordsmanship. And he was quite different then how his former captain fought he preferred to be on the defensive letting his opponent reveal their position, footwork, and technique. He would then learn and overcome them with superior placement and precision as was his job as an archer he applied it to his swordplay as well.

But she'd come back to that later, she had a knight to defeat. "You seem distracted Teresa." Victor says to her waving his sword and getting into a guard waiting for the woman to come at him.

"Yes well just thinking is all." She before using her strength and leapt into the and left two small implants in the ground where she jumped.

They collided with Teresa bringing her claymore down onto Victor's shield hard enough to create a small shockwave, but the knight held firm. He then goes to retaliate by bringing his blade down onto her shoulder, but using her momentum from the first strike she was able to throw her weight over his shield arm's shoulder and kick the taller fighter in the back with both feet sending him stumbling forwards.

Quickly recovering and then going after her Victor goes for a wide swing across the belly and forces the warrior to move back less she be bisected, but his follow up of using said swing's momentum he turns his whole frame around with it and goes for a long reaching thrust of his sword, landing a glancing blow to Teresa's waist.

Clicking her tongue at the small and most likely already healed wound she goes low again and attempts to sweep his feet from under him. Victor seeing it coming drops his blade to stop hers and goes in for a shield bash.

However Teresa counters by actually dropping her blade and leaping above him to land yet another kick onto his back forcing him to catch himself with his shield and turn to meet her.

But the second he makes eye contact with his opponent he was forced to roll out of the way from a head level horizontal swipe that easily could've slashed through solid rock. Recovering from his roll the knight springs to his feet and crosses swords with her follow up.

He then tries for another shield bash with a vertical slash as a follow up attack in order to try and prevent any kind of airborne movement from the more feminine of the two fighters, but seeing that the attack was coming Teresa goes to his right side towards his sword arm and strikes the flat side of blade sending it off course.

She was surprised however when Victor brought his shield around and smashed the edge into her hip sending her flying off her feet.

Seeing that she was already in the process of correcting her balance in the air the black knight gives chase and brings his sword down with a mighty war cry in order to finish the fight then and there.

But Teresa's smile gave away that she had a plan for the unusually aggressive play by the archer of the group. Twisting in the air she brings her blade around to defend her side, but was unable to stop her own descent towards the ground as the strength from the blow and because of this was still slammed into the ground.

Victor brought out the portion of his own divine power and cast the Emit Force miracle into the small crater that Teresa had created with her landing. But as the dust began to settle he stood on guard with his shield and his sword raised to protect his flank, he knew she was out there it was only a matter of time when she shows her face.

And show her face she did. Turning Victor was completely blindsided by the woman who smashed the flat side of her blade into the archer's helm stunning him and thus leaving him wide open for the follow-through of her next strike.

After the sword met its mark she brings it around again and then repeatedly slams both her own weight from kicks as well as her sword into the knight's ribs sending him further and further towards the Cliffside.

Seeing that he was on the ropes Victor cast a quick Force miracle, "Well looks like I've got to use my preferred method of combat." He says calmly removing his helm and wipes blood from his mouth, before putting away his sword and shield and instead holds in his hands his dragon slayer greatbow and a series of arrows was at the ready at his waist.

"Seems as if the battle has changed hasn't it?" He asks the woman who merely shakes her head in amusement at him. He then draws an arrow and lines up the shot onto the nonmoving Teresa.

"It'd be best to move my Lady." Teresa actually deadpanned at hearing that, "I'm not really what one would call a Lady Victor." She says resting her sword on her shoulder. Now if the knight heard her she's not sure, all she heard was the sound of a drawstring and she was back focused on the fight before her and with that she disappeared in a burst of speed.

Victor not openly being intimidated by the speed darts his eyes around and jumps into the narrowly avoiding Teresa's brutal horizontal swipe at his legs, and while in the air he lets the large spear-like arrow fly before quickly and rapidly drawing three more and launching them in predicted patterns towards his opponent.

Teresa following the arrow's path darts around on the ground avoiding the arrows that would easily pin her to the ground if hit by them. As she made her way to Victor she was able to see his silhouette in the distance, and yet again he had a number of arrows at the ready.

Letting them loose Teresa goes under the first, over the second and was forced to block the last with her sword as the only thing between her and impalement. Taking the time to look beyond her sword's guard she sees the archer drawing for a third volley and decided to put her foot down.

Kicking up the last arrow from the pervious volley the former number one grabs a hold of it with her free hand and charges the archer using both her sword and newly acquired arrow to swat aside the arrows that she was unable to dodge as she made her way to the knight.

Seeing that she was closing the distance rather quickly Victor stabs his bow into the ground and channeling a bit of power to the muscles in his back, shoulders, and arms he draws back one final arrow in attempt to halt her progress.

Drawing the string back until the entire weapon groaned in protest Victor knew she didn't have the speed to cleanly dodge an arrow with this much power behind it.

Letting it fly Victor grins under his slightly damaged helm watching as the arrow soared through the air at speeds capable of piercing a dragon's hide. Now with Teresa on the other hand she glared at the spear-like projectile as it sped towards her, but she had a plan. Bringing the arrow she'd picked up from earlier she brought it out in front of her chest and position it directly where the other would strike.

And for her idea she was rewarded with the two arrows colliding and with one being stuck in the other. Seeing this as her chance to get in close again the woman increases the amount of Yoki in her legs and before Victor could react he felt a blade resting against his throat, and a smiling Teresa holding the grip, the clear winner of the mock battle.

Sighing he drops his bow, "I yield. It seems as if you win again, my lady."

Teresa only rolls her eyes at that before she smacked him on the head with her sword, "Stop calling me that." She then looks to the small crowd with Clare giving her a small round of applause at watching the performance, or at least what she could follow with her being far away and lacking in the perception needed to follow some of the more fast paced parts of the fight.

Ornstein on the other hand merely laughed at the display between the knight and the hybrid it was good to see that after all was said and done they remanded comrades.

Walking up to the two of them Teresa messes with Clare's slightly longer hair and catches an apple tossed to her by Ornstein, "Best to eat now, wouldn't want your muscles cramping up on you when we march on after this. Besides Clare still needs to practice." He says making the girl's smile drop a bit hearing that she had yet to be forgotten, not that she was too surprised.

Teresa grins a bit wider watching the pseudo father and daughter talk among themselves, _'It has been rather nice not having to worry about the Organization too much since our last encounter. From what Irene last told me they've placed kill orders of her as well as Noel and Sophia since they abandoned their titles. Fools really, still if Ornstein has taught me anything surprises could still happen at anytime. And chancing the life of Clare is not something any of us are willing to do.'_ She then looks over to Ornstein who had a bit of a far off look in his eyes, before they widened and before any of them knew what was going on his attire shifted from traveling clothes to his Dragon Slayer armor he took off to the north in a burst of lightning and speed.

Teresa quickly looks to the shell-shocked Victor and Clare as the looked from the small crater Ornstein had left behind then to his quickly vanishing form as he sped off northbound. "Victor, watch over Clare!" She shouts but as she was about to jump she saw a look very similar to Ornstein's just before he took off.

"It can't be…" He says to himself with Clare becoming incredibly worried and Teresa beginning to have sinking feeling deep within her gut, she wasn't lost to the irony of her last thoughts.

Taking off after Ornstein a million thoughts began to race through her mind as she trailed his lightning coated form. As she followed him she actually found herself using over ten percent of her Yoki just to keep up with the now bright yellow and thickly covered Ornstein. And the fact that he was using so much power to only increase his speed set off warning bells in her head.

And then suddenly he stopped.

Appearing next to him Teresa widened her eyes at what the two of them were looking at. A town they'd passed through no less than two days ago, completely empty and silent, as if everyone who lived there had vanished.

"What happened here?" She asks her companion as his eyes dart around the town with weapon in hand as he scanned the doors and windows.

"Something horrible. Clear the town, we'll meet in the town square. But if you run into trouble flare your Yoki." She looks to him while drawing her sword from its sheath, "What aren't you telling me Ornstein?" She asks knowing something was spooking the knight into a state of near panic.

Ornstein only goes over to a corpse of the ground, and gently closed the woman's frightened eyes as a sign of respect, "There are many horrible things that you don't know about Teresa. Some are probably hidden carefully across your land, and then there are the dangers of my land. A land of monsters, gods, and sorcery, but by far the worst thing to ever appear in my home is curse that has caused my home to fall from glory and kill so many across my land." She takes a step towards him but the sounds of wood being smashed and what sounded like the scream of a child filled the air causing Ornstein to stand and slide into a low stance with his spear gripped just behind the cross shaped guard.

"And now it seems as if this curse has followed me."

Once the screaming stopped the two of them waiting for whatever it was to show itself. And they did not wait long as the sounds of metal plated footsteps filled the air, but what had both them tensing was the fact that it wasn't one set of footsteps it was a small group of them probably around four in total.

Teresa then saw a figure slowly make its way into the light. The figure was tall, almost reaching the heights of Ornstein and Victor as all of them stood at a solid 6'3, none of their facial features were showing as they were covered by armored and hooded masks in the shape of a skull with the eyes seemingly pitch black and empty, almost as if she were looking into a soulless void.

Moving to the armor it did nothing to really make the warrior's guard lower, it was pitch black like the helm with grey rib-like protrusions on the chest and branching segments extended from the shoulders all of them twisting and turning in different directions. Towards the arms the armor began to layer over itself giving the shoulders more protection with the same black and grey mix as the chest and back. This pattern continued when looking downward closer to the waist and even the thighs of the skeletal warriors, and on both the arms and legs the armor ended with claw tipped fingers and toes.

In their hands they all held a large and thick double-edged straight sword that gave away to a small gap in between the blade and the guard. What was a bit more concerning to Teresa though was focused on the fact that she could feel a very strange power emanating from their left hand and it felt much, much darker then Yoki.

All was quite for a moment as the four skeletal warriors looked to both Ornstein and Teresa each of them breathing ever so loudly. Then like a switch was thrown the lead one let loose an ear piercing low shriek as before all four of them charged the two warriors with reckless abandonment.

Ornstein was the first to engage them with his spear still in a low guard he aimed his spear to pierce the chest of the lead one, but they seemed to be both stronger and faster than Teresa thought as they brought their sword to block the incoming thrust from the Leo knight.

From there the lead one engaged Ornstein in a small contest of arms with a second one sprinting around to the knight's flank. Teresa decided to stop this and in a burst of speed appeared in front of the second skeletal knight and brought her sword to its legs causing the fiend like warrior to be removed from the ground for a split second before Teresa ever so gently reacquainted him to the dirt with a Yoki enhanced hammer fist to the thing's back.

Feeling a presence to her side Teresa brought up her guard just in time to block another's vicious slash onto her back. Bring her attention to the one attacking her back now Teresa swings wide and forces the black clad rouge to lock swords allowing her to use her Yoki in order to shift the balance of her opponent and land a glancing blow onto the armored chest and send the thing flying away from her.

Circling back Teresa keeps and eye on the two regrouping skull faced figures and looks over to Ornstein. While all of that was going on with her Ornstein seemed to be fighting at a much different pace than her.

The moment he went in for the first lunge attack the second fighter of the two had to intervene almost immediately in order to prevent the first from being impale onto the spear of the Dragon Slayer. But even with the narrow save Ornstein wasn't letting up on the attack and spun his spear from a low guard into a high stance with a twist of fluid motion and brought the blade back down onto the second one's shoulder snapping the grey branch-like metal protrusions and was rewarded with a loud crunch of the shoulder being broken.

Twisting his body around once again he brings both his foot and a spinning back fist into the chest of the first one who tried to go towards his left side. The black clad opponent had his sword misdirected with the tail end of the Leo knight's spear and was knocked back into one of the now vacant houses with a fist to stun it and a solid kick to the ribs to knock it away.

Hearing a low growl come from the second one Ornstein gives his spear a small and intimidating twirl before locking his gaze onto his other opponent.

"Well then, come at me Wraith. I've been waiting for you appear now don't disappoint me!" He says before lightning coated his spear and he vanished from sight appearing to the side of the wraith in blinding speed with his spear poised to remove one of its legs.

Turning towards his now empowered foe the skull faced fighter turns and using its left hand casts a red glowing shied of light stopping the spear almost entirely in its tracks.

But the lightning coated weapon continued to push through breaking the poise of the one trying to block and thus lead to him receiving a godly punch to the chest sending it flying towards the same house its partner went flying into.

"I'm not done with you yet!" Ornstein shouts as he gives chase to them.

Leaping into the air the knight of Gwyn summons a large spear of bright yellow lightning and with the force of a thunderstorm slams the bolt into the earth where the two wraiths were stationed.

Both he and Teresa smile as the as when the dust settles it appeared as if at least one had died in the explosion, as one could be seen missing an arm and a significant portion of its chest.

The second one though leapt into the air to meet Ornstein its hand now glowing an ominous mixture of pink, white, and some purple.

Ornstein widened his eyes as he snatched the wrist of the offending appendage in an iron-like grip and redirected the attack downwards sending both him and the wraith to the ground. After the hard landing the two were once again up on their feet with Ornstein avoiding the left hand of the being at all costs and the second figure alternating using what Teresa could only guess was magic in the form of a red see through shield and that glowing grapple type attack along with its straight sword.

But in her curiosity she saw out of the corner of her eye her own opponents slowly stalking towards not her but Ornstein and their apparent leader. Appearing in front of the two she was greeted by two low growls from the two of them, "We're not done yet."

In response the two of them raised their left hands and sure enough like the other a small dome of red magic began to encompass their arms, "It seems as everyone I meet now has a few tricks to show me." She says her grin slightly widening.

They then slowly begin to walk towards her but as they get closer they begin to increase in speed before all out sprinting towards her each of them growling that low ringing noise she assumed to be them communicating between one another.

Going in between the two of them Teresa uses her sword to swipe at one's legs and forces it to bring down its barrier while swinging downwards with its sword and the second one came at her with its sword in a thrust.

Seeing that the two of them were already gunning she knew it would be similar to fighting Victor in the fact that she would need to bypass the shields, worry about the swords, then scores a blow or two onto their weak points.

Already getting a few ideas in her head Teresa leaps upwards and split kicks the two of them, but they seemed to not really be bothered and only seemed to flinch at the force behind the kick, which would've killed any regular human and some Yoma with the force she placed into it.

Going for a new approach she begins to sprint circles around the two and looks for openings to attack, and it didn't take too long for a hole in their defense to be spotted. Darting to one while it was turning to adjust for her position she swings her claymore at its kneecaps and was rewarded with the second having to compensate for the others lack of foresight and using this she turned as was able to turn herself behind the second and land a large slashing blow onto its back causing it to spill pitch black blood.

' _Now that's interesting?'_ She thinks to herself as now a small hit and run campaign had begun between her and the skull-faced fighters. Going in and out rapidly she was starting to see the fruits of her labor as the two were now much bloodier than when she'd began.

The one she'd slashed on the back had to use its sword for support as she had cut out one of its ankles, its left arm was now missing large chunks of both armor and flesh, and to top off the she'd landed a large laceration onto its left hip.

The other wasn't in the best of shape either had Teresa had removed its sword arm entirely, so at the moment it was only able to use that strange magic she'd seen. But if Ornstein's reaction to the glowing attack were anything to go by she'd best avoid it.

Deciding to end them quickly and join her companion Teresa slowly walked towards them, but when one looked to the other she saw them nod to one another before they closed the distance on one another.

Then in a strange turn of events the one missing the arm turned its attack onto it brethren, and Teresa watched in strange fascination as the armless one grabbed hold of the other with that special attack and she saw as what she could describe as life be transferred from one to another.

It latched onto its downed teammate and began to drain him of life as it emerged from one in a bright white and began to circulate around the other until it rested on pitch black with a white outline. It then swirled around the missing arm and before her very eyes the arm had been replaced, just without armor. It then bends down to pick up its comrade's sword with its wrinkled grey arm and holds it in a different and new type of guard. It then points to Teresa with its left arm and motions for her to come at it. **"Come."** It says in a deep yet somehow deadly silent and soft tone of voice.

Happily obliging Teresa goes towards it in at a blazing pace and readies her sword to finish the fight. She was surprised thought to find that yes indeed along with it arm and creature had regained all of its strength as it was completely and fully healed.

Knowing this Teresa could off in the distance that Ornstein's fight had ended meaning she needed to wrap this up now. "Sorry, but I'm cutting this little meeting short. I've a friend to meet up with. And I now need some answers as to what you are. But I doubt you'll simply answer me now would you?"

The being said nothing but charged at her again with an unshaken resolve. Teresa though was telling the truth though, this fight was over.

Channeling her Yoki she feels her eyes changing in color before using her increase in power to appear behind the renewed wraith. Not giving it any time to react runs her sword through the skeletal warrior and faster than the eye could see she removed her blade from its chest and then quickly removed the head of her opponent.

"Well now this certainly raised more questions than answers. Just what happened here?" She says looking around at the ruined town and the slew of corpses that littered the both the streets and remained uncounted in the homes.

 **With Ornstein**

A few moments earlier the Leo knight was still locked in combat with the wraith that now had him furious just thinking all the ramifications of them simply existing in this world. A world full of living humans, and full of creatures that preyed upon them, just another problem in paradise he supposed.

Back to his own battle he knew he was going to win, he'd killed dozens of wraiths at points all across his long time as Captain of Anor Londo, but if he broke out any stronger spells he might accidentally kill some survivors, if there were any left that the wraiths missed. But even then a small part of his pride refused to use such techniques against such a lowly creature of the dark.

At the moment though he knew that Teresa must be wrapping up her own fight, and he knew he was destined to get some kind of speech from the woman about keeping secrets once she knew about the Red-Eye he still had.

But enough about the future he still had a wraith to kill. Going once again on the offense Ornstein could see that the wraith had given up on using his hand like a shield and chose instead to using only the offense half of the Dark Hand.

So while Ornstein was able to manage the sword easily, since he'd been fighting nothing but sword users the entire time he'd been here in this world it was of no difficulty to fight against one. The Dark Hand on the other hand was a different story, he remembered just how dangerous that thing could be to anyone, be they human or not.

So deciding it was time to end this little fiasco Ornstein puts some power into his legs before lunging towards the wraith using his superior range to full effect as even when the wraith narrowly dodged the lightning tipped spear it was unable to avoid the follow up attack of wide aiming horizontal slash Ornstein brought across after putting the back end under his arm and swinging his spear like a halberd.

Ornstein was pleased to hear the sound of metal cutting through armor and flesh as the wraith recoiled in shock rather than pain as its left arm from the elbow down was completely removed from the slash.

Ornstein seeing the wraith simply shrug off the now missing appendage knew he'd just have to go for the killing blow and end the fight right then and there.

Charging the Dragon Slayer the wraith brings his sword up high to have a bit extra power behind the swing, but in doing so left his guard open for Ornstein to lodge his spear deep into the black-clad fighters cranium killing it instantly and making it go limp on the spear before Ornstein unceremoniously rips the spear out of the skull of by placing his foot onto its chest and pushing his now dead opponent into the dirt.

Looking over to his right he sees Teresa with her weapon already sheathed and her arms crossed, "So what were those things?"

Ornstein sighs knowing that this question was coming the moment he felt their souls. "Creatures from my homeland, they're known as Darkwraiths servants of the Darkstalker of New Londo. But that is a story for another day, right now I'm more concerned about the bodies they left behind. We need to find them all and check to see if the corpses have begun to hallow." Hearing the term Teresa raises an eyebrow but none-the-less helps her companion search the small town and to her surprise all the bodies found had begun to dry up as if they were becoming mummified.

Ornstein shows her where to put the bodes and as they begin to lay them all to rest she looks over and sees that Ornstein seems to be reminiscing about something, "What are you thinking about?" She asks him seriously wondering what was going through the knight's mind as they completed the morbid task of collecting the bodies and piling them up into the center of the town.

"This curse is what destroyed my land once. Many things happened during my time as Captain of Anor Londo and of all the horrible things that I've seen, all the things I was forced to confront this curse is cause of almost all of our trouble. The curse of the Dark Soul." He says somberly before his hands ignited in lightning and before Teresa could blink the bodies were disintegrated into dust.

"What happened? When this curse began to spread?" She asks honestly knowing that it might already be on its way to spreading throughout the land.

"We tried all that we could, but in all honesty we saw the problems of Izalith and Oolacile as much greater priorities at the time. After all what threat is a simple curse when there are demons and the Abyss to be dealt with. But that's the problem with curses, they are so similar to disease in the fact that they spread without anyone knowing and just as everyone takes notice and sees the real problem and threat its become, its far too late to contain and destroy."

This did nothing to comfort Teresa as she didn't like the idea of some curse destroying a world where beings such as Ornstein and Victor were somewhat commonplace to be found.

"So what now?" She asks as the two of them turn to leave watching as the heat from the ashes of Ornstein's miracle began to light fires across the town.

"Now?" Ornstein asks as he looked to the sun clinging to life in the sky.

"Now we take the fight to them. I will not see this world burn like mine did I will stop this, and this time I will not stop until I know for certain that every single trace of this curse and those affected by it are dealt with. I wish to see this plague eradicated from the face of the earth." He says with a fire in his voice and with a fist clenched in remembrance of his home.

"Now Teresa, we go hunting." He says making the woman smirk at the thought of the two of them going out across the land teaching Clare how to survive and in the meantime hunting down some rather interesting foes.

And for the life of her Teresa just couldn't help but feel excited when she thought about doing it all with the man who stood proudly next to her.

 **Further to the South**

Days after the incident involving Ornstein and Teresa and a few now deceased Darkwraiths duo of knight and unofficial squire could be seen exploring a town looking for supplies in order to restock before continuing west to follow something that the knight had sensed earlier that week.

"Gehrman did you get the supplies I asked for?" The glaive wielding knight Reden asked the now sixteen-year-old apprentice.

Gehrman reaching into the bag tosses the knight a small stripe of dried pork, "Yeah I got the jerky and some bread along with the fruits, don't see why you wanted so much pork the beef was cheaper anyways." Gehrman complains a bit to the grinning knight as he happily began to chew on the stripe of dried pork.

"We've plenty of money my oh so annoying apprentice. It's about quality not quantity mind you."

Gehrman only rolls his eyes at the easygoing knight as the two of them walked out of the city and began making their ways northwest towards whatever it was that Reden had sensed a few days ago.

' _All he told me was that we should be able to meet his Captain. And if this is the same Captain he kept telling me stories about then I think we're in for a treat?'_ Gehrman wonders in his mind as the two of them kept walking.

It was a comfortable silence for sometime, but Gehrman knew it wouldn't last long as Reden didn't like things being too quite for too long it seemed to bug him a lot more than it should, but Gehrman was never one to pry when it comes to his master's past.

"Say Gehrman you did get your spear fixed right?" Reden asks as he looks to the wooden handle on Gehrman's back. His student nods before removing it from its holster and gives it a small twirl over his shoulder and holds it with most of the hilt pointed to the sky.

Reden looks it over and nods, at the weapon. While it wasn't anything as fancy as his glaive it serves its purpose well as a simple polearm with a moderately sized double edged tip at the end and a decent length for a still growing teen Gehrman. Reden was actually amazed that Gehrman took to his training as well as he did.

If he kept this up he might actually knight the boy in a few years time. Damn the kind of ruckus he would've caused if they were in Anor Londo with that. Almost made him laugh just thinking about it.

And so they kept walking with the two now close friends as well as master and student keeping themselves busy with small talk about anything they happened to pass.

From the blooming flowers of spring to even the occasional traveler, but it wasn't until they passed one traveler in particular that made Reden stop dead in his tracks.

A young beautiful woman passed by them with long brown hair pale skin and wearing a wonderfully crafted dress with jewelry hanging from both her neck and ears. And while Gehrman himself couldn't help but glance at her rather voluptuous bosom and try to steal a glance at her backside as she passed by them. Reden tensed and glanced backward in her direction.

"Wow, now that's something you don't see everyday? Right Sir?" He asks his teacher, but stops dead in his tracks as his teacher's cold steel grey eyes were now locked onto her back.

"You do know that it's rather rude to stare at a woman, right?" She asks without turning back around. Gehrman at this point began to understand what was going on and slowly began to grab hold of his spear before Reden put his hand on his shoulder.

"Don't, she's way above your level. Maybe even a bit too much for me." He says honestly while taking out his shield and glaive while at the same time his black knight helm appeared onto his head signaling to his student that he was more than ready for combat.

"And to answer your question, yes I've heard it's rude to stare at a lady. But in this case I think its necessary to keep your eyes on the monster in front of you." He brings his glaive into a balanced stance and they both watch as the woman's face was revealed to have potent glowing yellow eyes, marking her as a Yoma.

"Oh now you're going to hurt my feelings. Seems as if my bodyguard will have to deal with you then." Reden scuffs at hearing that.

"Too afraid to fight a proper knight? Is that it then?" Hearing this actually makes the woman let out a small laugh. "Ignoring your little insult, I'll answer why. I only want to see which knight is better? You or my own knight?"

Hearing this Reden perks up as he felt a familiar presence behind him and picking up his apprentice he leapt to the side to avoid a colossal downward swing from the figure that had appeared above him and Gehrman.

When the dust had cleared Gehrman widened his eyes in shock as he was staring at a knight in armor the same as his master, only wielding a greataxe instead of a glaive. And most surprisingly to the teen was that this new knight stood a full head taller than Reden making his teacher look somewhat small next to the man.

It also served as a bit of comedy to Reden who laughed seeing a very familiar face next to the much shorter Yoma behind him.

"Are you alright my lady?" He asks in a deep baritone voice to the woman who seemed to be smiling even wider revealing her razor-like teeth to the world. "Me, oh I'm perfectly fine. But it seems as if we have a problem now, this man threatened me just now. And I know as my bodyguard you're not willing to let that go so easily. So if you would?" She says motioning towards Reden who was now glaring at the axe wielding former comrade.

Standing to his full height Meinen points his axe towards the shorter of the two black knights. "You wear the same armor as I do. Answer this for me, please. Are there others and, were we at one point friends?" He asks seriously with a bit of a pleading undertone in his words.

Reden felt his body tense at that, "Yes there are others. Two more like us and of course our Captain, but now I do not know how many are left though, I do know the Captain is alive though. And yes we were friends, we were once very good friends." He tells him honestly while meeting his gaze.

He then went on to ask his own questions, "What happened to you Meinen? Why do this?" Reden asks looking for any kind of reason to not fight his once good friend.

"I fight for my lady. That is my purpose, but if what you say is true then I'm sure you will not die here. And when my lady ends this contest, maybe we will find the others someday together." He says before bringing his own weapon to rest over his shoulder as the two began to charge one another.

"You know, this reminds me a bit of my first meeting with my sister after my awakening." Gehrman hears from his left and turns to see the woman who this new knight insisted of calling 'his lady' casually watching while sitting on top of a rock watching as the two warriors circle each other sizing up their opponent.

"Can't imagine why?" Gehrman says with a bit of venom in his voice as he looked upon the woman who still had her golden eyes proudly on display.

"Its simple really, even if you forget a person's face…"

Then before anyone could react the two knights began their duel as greataxe met glaive as weapons and wills began to clash in the heart of a duel between former servants of the sun.

"…you never forget their will."

 **And Done!**

 **Well it feels good to be back on this story, sorry for not updating in so long. But now I'm back to this and hopefully will be able to balance it out with my other story "Pain Killer."**

 **But yeah just finished the Ringed City and I'm still trying to climb in SR on Overwatch so that's been eating up time and then school and work took my free time and put it into a blender. But y'all don't want to hear excuses.**

 **Anyway please Read and Review they always help me.**

 **Stay Cool**


	8. Bad Omens

I do not own either Dark Souls or Claymore

 **Guess who's back?**

"Speech"

' _Thoughts'_

" **Dark Character speech"**

' _ **Dark Character thoughts'**_

 **Chapter 8: Bad Omens**

Meinen and Reden charged each other with the full weight of both their weapons and armor bearing into one another, and with a mighty clash of titanite the greataxe and glaive struck one another creating a small bit of spark.

Though the clash wasn't very long since Meinen wielded not only the greater weight in his weapon, but also had much greater strength and size backing him in the contest.

Seeing this the shorter of the two knights brings his shield around to break the connection between the two weapons, and after breaking away he jumps back to gain distance from his friend now foe, "Don't do this." He says simply to the larger knight.

Said knight only sighed before leaping into the air casually lifting his mighty axe and slamming it where Reden stood and had he not moved he probably would've been bisected on the spot.

"But yet I must…" He swings his axe horizontally attempting to slash at his stomach. Reden rolling beneath it comes out with an upward slash now two handing his glaive trying to cut the inside of the knights left leg. But the taller knight jumped once again and plunged his axe down with the force of a small earthquake.

Reden this time did not move from his place on the ground and cast the miracle of Force as quickly as he could and was rewarded with the other being flung higher into the air off balance and spinning uncontrollably.

Taking this as his chance to score the first blow Reden cracks his neck and then leaps off after him. Catching up rather quickly the glaive wielder had Meinen's back exposed to him and with no hesitation in his movement he slashed viciously downward driving Meinen into the ground beneath them, drawing blood, and kicking up a large amount of dirt from the impact.

But the knight wasn't done just yet as he came crashing like a comet with his shield poised to crush the larger knight. But while in flight the knight widened his eyes when Meinen was revealed to be readying himself for a colossal upward swing of the axe. And unable to correct himself in the air Reden braces himself as the axe made contact with his shield and sent a sharp spike of pain into his arm and shoulder before sending him skipping across the ground.

Picking himself up off the ground Reden snakes his tongue in his own mouth and grimaces when he tastes blood. He then stands and looks to Meinen who had put his own shield on his back and was holding his axe with two hands in preparation for the next clash. "Quit while your health is intact. I don't want to kill you, as that would upset my Lady, so please will you end this and come quietly?" He says seriously not really wanting to hurt someone who might've been an ally in his previous life.

"My Lady is quite generous with her knights, I think an offer to come with the two of us back to her home will suit both you and your young squire, don't you agree?" He asks hoping that the other knight will agree willingly.

Reden though says nothing to the other knight and just snorts as he inhales before slightly lifting his helm to spit out a large glob of blood and snot, "There's what I think of your offer and your 'lady.' So stopping wasting my fucking time and let's get this thing over with."

Meinen scowls under his helm at the disrespect that had been shown to Luciela before clenching his hands on the axe and with a new tone of anger in his voice speaks up, "Very well then. Don't say I didn't give you a chance though, but my Lady's commands are to be followed to my dying breath. So let's get on with it then!"

He sprints to the shorter knight dragging his axe across the ground tearing up the terrain as he ran past it. Reden showing no fear in the face of this new stance meets him in the middle rolling past him and once again brings his glaive up to his back where he had been cut once already.

Meinen tracking his movement brings his axe around once again and stops the blade by catching it in the curved ends of his blade and threw his attack off course. He then goes in to capitalize on the momentary opening and slams his shield against Reden's chest sending the other knight skidding backwards.

Moving in once again Meinen brings his axe overhead and with a loud crash it slammed into Reden's raised shield as he had recovered by this point and gripped the handle on his shield until his knuckles were white underneath his gauntlets trying to hold back the monstrous strength that his opponent held.

But somehow to his own surprise even he held firm and brought his glaive up to run Meinen through at the belly, but the larger knight was able to avoid to the right side and brought his own shield around to make sure that the weapon wouldn't come back around to strike his back.

Reden though needing some space brings his own shield to his side, which brought the axe with it so that both weapons rested at either of the opponents sides, Reden then brought both his legs out from under him to firmly plant them into Meinen's gut creating much needed space and knocking the wind out of the other knight. Not one to waste an opportunity Reden places his shield on his back and brings his glaive around in a circle motion over and over to build up some momentum.

Meinen not having enough breathing room to engage was forced to go to a more defensive strategy and brought his shield up to tank the first hit, but the fight only seemed to sour for him from there as the second hit broke his guard with the a surprising amount of strength. From there the knight was forced to roll out of the way from the third swing of the glaive.

Looking up from the his position of the ground Meinen widened his eyes underneath his helm as the other knight was now airborne with his glaive about to come down at a diagonal angle aiming for the other knight's shoulder, whether he was aiming to cleave him in two or break his shoulder he wasn't sure where he was aiming exactly.

But it didn't matter as either would end the fight in a rather sudden fashion in it were to connect, so digging into his own power the axe wielding knight channeled it into a Force miracle which knocked Reden way off course.

Smirking as he had in a way returned the favor for the miracle from earlier in the fight Meinen goes in after the stumbling knight and catches him by surprise and grips his throat before throwing him through a small number of trees before he then crashes against a large boulder leaving web like cracks in the rock.

"Had enough?" He asks in a more arrogant tone watching as the other knight pried himself free and stood once more, but with a noticeable stagger in his stance.

"Not yet." He says with a level of heavy breathing before and after speaking as the he brings his shield around and rolls his shoulder letting a horrible popping noise fill the air.

Seeing that he would have to finish him while out of breath Meinen goes in once again on a full scale offensive. Dragging the axe across the ground Reden was forced to leap over him in order to completely avoid the attack. The glaive knight then came down with a large downward thrust and managed to throw the larger knight away with the small shockwave that the impact created.

Meinen though not willing to give any room slightly jumps and brings his own weapon down to bear, but just as he thought he had the knight right he wanted him Reden brings his shield in front of him and with perfect timing parries the sloppy and rushed attack.

Not prepared Meinen could do nothing as his guard was easily left exposed after the counter and stared in horror as Reden brings his glaive and runs in through his gut.

Dropping to his knees with the weapon still in him Meinen coughs blood into his helm as he stares up at the other knight who was breathing heavily and was beginning to feel the full extent of the injuries that he'd taken in the fight.

"Don't get up Meinen, for both our sakes." Reden says before placing his foot onto the downed man's chest and pulls the blade free from his belly.

Turning he sees a smiling Gehrman sitting next to concerned looking Luciela. Reden then began to make his way back to the two of them, and in the back of his mind he was fully prepared to fight the Yoma that sat next to his apprentice, and if need be die so that the boy may escape.

He knew that she was stronger than Meinen, and the fact that he was injured wasn't good news either, he'd have to heal quickly if they had any chance of getting away from the woman.

He then raises a brow as the woman's concern shifts to a small and somewhat malicious smirk and Gehrman goes from smiling to wide-eyed with shock.

Knowing what they were looking at he turned as fast as he could and tried to bring his shield up to protect himself, but it was too late.

Meinen came back in full force with his body now surrounded by a haze of orange, he seemed to simply not care about his wound and seemed faster than before. Bringing his axe down on Reden's shield and sheer strength and force behind was enough to break Reden's arm and send him straight into the dirt while knocking off his helm. He tried to quickly to get up with his one good arm, but the relentless knight grabbed him by the back of the head and then mercilessly slammed his face into he ground over and over again and he didn't stop till his face was bloody and the man himself was unconscious.

Seeing that now it was over Luciela rises from her sitting position and makes her way over to the last knight standing. "My, my that was quite the scare you gave me at the end there." She says before the knight leans down and bends to one knee in front of her.

"Forgive me my Lady, I did not mean to worry you." He says with a tone of disappointment in his voice as if he were angry with himself for worrying the woman.

Luciela though just smiles and lifts his helm off showing off his golden colored eyes and ashen colored hair, but it also revealed a trail of blood leaking from the corner of his mouth and a small number of bruises, not that he couldn't heal from them of course but seeing her knight like this always troubled the woman.

"There is nothing that needs forgiving, my knight. You did as you were told and that is worthy of reward not punishment." She then leans in close and licks the blood off his lips before planting a quick, but passionate kiss on them before just as quickly moving away.

"Now if you would grab the other knight and bring him with us. One of my near by estates should do well for shelter." She then turns to the young teen and tilts her head, "Now what to do with you? I suppose maybe you could tag along, but I cannot use you, yet."

Gehrman glares and was temped to reach for his spear and lash out, but Reden had taught him better than that. He knew that he stood no chance in hell against either of them injured or otherwise, he was still human after all and these two were a hell of a lot more.

So holding his tongue the teen walks over to the discarded glaive that his master had dropped and hefted it onto his shoulder.

"If you're not going to kill us at least heal Reden, any kind of movement would probably just cause some internal damage." He says hoping that the other knight would listen to a bit of reason.

However seeing a bright glow from the corner of his vision he turns to Meinen healing himself before simply hefting the fallen, unconscious, and injured form of Reden onto his shoulder. "He'll live kid. Now listen the two of us are leaving now. So either follow or just leave I don't really care. Word to the wise though, don't be caught out here at night."

Gehrman then can only watch as the two of them start to leave with his master in tow, _'Fuck.'_ He thought before falling in step a few paces behind them, his eyes constantly shifting between Meinen holding his teacher and Luciela who seemed to be carefully whispering something to Meinen.

Whatever was going on between the two he needed answers, for both him and his teacher's sake.

 **Much further to the West**

Hours later close to dusk in a reasonably sized town sat a lone figure sitting quietly to themselves in the corner of the town's largest tavern.

In front of him on the table was a barely touched plate of beef and potatoes and a large mug of ale, partially empty from the occasional sips he'd been taking.

He kept his ears peaked trying to listen to all the chatter that had been permeating the tavern trying to listen for any key pieces of information that someone would say out loud. But so far this night had been like all the others, full of nothing but useless chatter about everything ranging from the whorehouse, to crops, and the occasional rumor about Yoma possibly in the area. He planned to move on to another town soon, maybe at midday tomorrow?

Lowering his head a bit he reaches out with his right hand and grips the handle of his mug and brings it up to take a generous sip. Placing it down back onto the table once he'd completely drained it the figure looks around with dark and flame like orange eyes looking for anything out of the ordinary, not that he really expected anything from this place.

He then gripped the table and slowly stood up and began to walk over to the bar in order to ask for another. But as he stood up some of those in the bar widened their eyes at his appearance, since he stood at a solid seven feet tall, with muscles and scars that spoke of years of combat. His attire at the moment was pair of simple brown trousers that did very little to hide the tree trucks for legs that he possessed. And he wore a long grey travelers cloak across the top half of his body hiding everything from the shoulder down.

He made his way to the counter the woman working behind it looked in his direction and smiled before fixing her long brown hair into a ponytail. She was short compared to the knight since she only stood at 4'11, but she was a rather beautiful woman with tanned skin along with a rich shade of brown in her hair, warm chocolate brown eyes, and a few well-placed curves and a generous buxom, that she was rather proud to display.

The barkeep walked up to him with a rather cheery smile to her face even as she looked up at the giant of a man. "Let me guess Sebastian, another refill?"

The man now identified nodded his head before putting a small silver coin on the counter causing the girl to smirk as she took the cup away, waiting on her to return the man runs his hand through his slightly longer and still quite spiky ink black hair.

Thinking to himself for a moment he recalled the rumors and other places he had visited over the past few years. He knew that the others were out there since he'd heard some interesting rumors most of them involving his Captain.

He'd heard of someone called the Midnight Archer, a man with skill great enough to weave an arrow through a crowd to kill two Yoma, and he also happened to have used arrows the size of full-grown men. So it was a safe bet to assume that it was Victor they were talking about, seeing as he'd the only archer that had arrows the size of spears.

Then there were the rumors floating about of a man who could hold lightning in his bare hands and summon booms of thunder who fought Yoma and highway men in armor that shined like gold with a fearsome Lion like face.

No doubt the Captain hard at work in this world, though he had to ask him when they met as to whether or not the rumor of him destroying a town was true or not.

She refills it and hands it back to the man all while seeming to look him over with small spark in her eyes and a ever so faint layer of pink adorning her cheeks. "So Sebastian, you've been here two days yet you never say a word about where you're from? So I have to ask, you wouldn't happen to have a woman back home waiting on you?" She asks suddenly leaning across the bar trying to show off her chest to the dark haired knight.

Said knight caught off guard by the question, somewhat stood there awkwardly watching as some of the patrons seemed to be paying attention to and edging on the now momentarily stunned man as he looked to her with wide eyes.

"Uh, no I never really had a woman who caught my fancy. Usually working or training most of the time." He answered honestly with a bit of a sheepish grin to the barkeep.

This seemed to make her perk up as she started to play with her hair a bit as the knight started to grow a small blush understanding what was going on.

But before the barkeep or Sebastian could speak another word a small group of five men came through the door of the bar and the room went quiet.

All of them were visibly armed and none of them looked like pleasant company.

But after the initial entrance all of them walked to a less populated part of the bar and sat amongst themselves not bothering anyone, and speaking only to one another even if their conversation was a bit loud.

The barkeep sighs before shaking her head, "Looks like duty calls, don't go anywhere." She says to him with a small wink before going over to the group of five as Sebastian casually sips from his mug.

But immediately after the woman had finished taking their requests Sebastian's enhanced hearing picked up a small part of their conversation, something about a small group of women who they'd almost encountered on the road.

' _Claymores? Looks like there's more than meets the eye to this group, very interesting.'_ As he began to listen closer he sighed as craned his neck and looked to the young barkeep that'd returned to the counter. "You might want to take cover soon." He says glancing at her.

Surprised she follows his line of sight and sees him looking to the small group that had just gotten their drinks. "What are you talking about Sebastian? Why?"

Looking to her with firm and fiery eyes the knight motions her to lower herself behind the counter. "Just trust me, please. You might not want to see what happens next."

Nodding slightly as she was still confused, the knight turns to them and raises his voice. "You know that bandits are not exactly the best disguise for a town this small right? Especially ones with bounties on their heads." At hearing him speak everyone stopped in a dead silence as they all turned to the now tense group in the corner.

Said group turned to look at him and raised stared at him for a few moments, "I think you're mistaking us for someone else. We're simply passing through, we're not looking to bother anyone." One says in a polite tone of voice to the taller man.

Sebastian turns towards them, "I don't think you understand what I meant? What I'm saying is that your little façade was a poor one to begin with. You chose to hide your true self as the very people you killed."

Everyone hearing that bit began to spread out a bit more from both the group and Sebastian. "Still though it can't hide your yoki, no matter how hard you try."

They all calmly leave their table and glare at Sebastian, "What the fuck are you talking about?" The first one asks with the knight rolling his eyes.

Sebastian was not in the mood to waste any more time with them and planned to hurry this along.

"You know what I mean." He then disappears in a burst of speed and appears behind one of the group members, but now he held a large man sized sword with a large, rust colored, and thick double-edged blade with two small points on the sides of the blade curving out towards the tip.

From there no one was able to see his movement as the knight cleanly cleaves one of the men in half with a large vertical swing that sent a small shockwave through the bar.

After the dust had settle and the remaining four had rolled or jumped away and into the streets and everyone else in the bar saw the two halves of the man bleed purple before they began to change shape and color with the clothes being torn open and the skin began to turn purple and enlarge, soon the two halves were completely transformed into a six and a half foot humanoid Yoma with elongated fangs and a pig like nose.

Everyone looked on in shock as the other four growled at the figure in the dust. However those growls turned into looks of concern and fear as with a single swing of the sword the dust cleared and Sebastian was left standing tall and proud with his sword held tightly in his right arm holding the blade out to the side.

It was only then that they saw what else lay underneath his thick grey coat, his blackened knights armor adorned his body complete with his horned helm. But what caught the attention of most was his missing left arm from the shoulder down.

"You can drop your disguise now, otherwise this will be over quicker than you could think." He said walking out to meet them on the street.

Snarling the remaining four began to twitch, convulse, and grow as their true forms were revealed.

The first had a long serpent like head with define ridges running all down its body with long thin and clawed hands and feet, and it was pitch black in color.

The second shifted into the same as the one he had killed gaining height, muscle, and fangs along with a pig nose and matching stench.

The next two sprouted tails and split their legs into six and their body stretched as if it were under a pendulum. They then rose up like snakes and glared with their golden eyes, which was made even stranger since their heads remained entirely human.

" **You're going to regret that!"** One of the six legged two shouts as drool began to drip from its lips.

Sebastian brings his sword onto his shoulder, "I doubt that. Now I heard you speaking of Claymores, where are they?" He demands them only to have the first more lizard like one split at his feet. **"As if we'd tell a dead man anything."**

He lets out a deep sigh before once again becoming no more than a blur to both the humans and the Yoma. "Then I'll give you three chances to talk."

Hearing the voice behind them they all turn but, have to dodge as the large pig snout one was run through by the large and intimidating blade. The others try to go in, but had to avoid the corpse of their comrade as Sebastian casually flung the body off his sword and towards them getting them off balance.

He follows up by throwing his sword turning it into a spinning blade of carnage as it cleanly lops off four legs belonging to one of the lanky bug like Yoma. Seeing as his weapon was now gone the two still in good health rushed him trying to tear the flesh from his bones.

However they were easily avoided as the knight casually leapt over them to finish off the downed Yoma who was still screaming in pain from his missing legs. Landing atop his chest with the weight of a small boulder landing on the monster's chest collapsing it. The other two snarled at him and were about to charge again, only to stop when they saw his hand glow white.

Curious at what the knight was doing now they narrowed their eyes when he put his glowing hand somewhat close to the downed Yoma's head, then with a loud crash like noise a pure white ball of power erupted from the knight's hand and ruptured in a shockwave, which then splattered the top half of the Yoma all across the street.

They then watch in horror as the knight turned to them and they locked eyes sending a shiver down their spines, "That's two chances gone. You can either tell me now where the Claymores are or I will take away your last chance and then force you to tell me." He smirked under his helm as he saw a few beads of sweat form on their heads.

" **What the hell was that!? That wasn't yoki, you're no Yoma so why the hell are you looking for those damned Claymores!?"** The lizard like one shouted with fear clearly present in his voice.

Sebastian doesn't say a word though and appears behind the other six legged Yoma and casually cleaves him in two horizontally with a swing of his sword. "You didn't answer my question." He says plainly to the last surviving Yoma as it stared at him in fear almost shaking at what how he ever so casually dispatched his allies.

But before he had a chance to really contemplate his chance of escape the knight appeared behind him and shattered his knees with the flat end of the blade, leaving the Yoma to helplessly crawl at his feet.

He then puts his right foot atop the struggling monster's chest and applies pressure holding him in place, "Talk or I take off a limb."

" **Alright! Fine you want to know about those damned witches? There were two of them to the northeast from here maybe a half days walk. Past the mountains tucked away in valley, you can't miss it. They should still be there we sensed them a few days back and avoided that place like it was hell itself. Happy!?"** The Yoma asked hoping he would be let off easy.

He was then decapitated in the blink of an eye. "Very." The knight says before sweeping his blade through the air sending the purple blood that coated it onto the streets. _'Seem as if I've got to be moving now?'_ He then looks back at the bar and sighs knowing that he would have to finish up here first though.

Walking back into the bar with his helm now gone from its place on his shoulders the knight sees that everyone in there as well as the other buildings that saw the whole fight were staring at him.

Walking to the stunned barkeeper who'd been flirting with him no more than a minute ago he pulls out a small bag of powder that shined brighter than any gold she'd ever seen, "Use this on the floor. Sorry, but this is all I can give you." Was all he said to the barkeep who wordlessly accepted the bag and marveled at the gold like powder within.

He then calmly left the still somewhat shell-shocked town and began to make his way northeast in hopes of finding the two members of the Claymores. Since it was at this point it was his best chance of finding his Captain and fellow knights. And while he knew that it was most likely a long shot, he had heard that Claymore tend to roam a bit, so even if it is a long shot of an attempt at gathering information then he'd best take it.

He then looks to where his left arm used to be. "Hopefully I can find you all soon."

 **Hours Later**

Sebastian's armored footsteps could be heard throughout the small forest he had entered. It was just as the Yoma had said, it really was impossible to miss the valley and hopefully it would be just as easy to find the Claymore out here.

And to his inner joy as he made his way further into the valley he began to feel the familiar presence of yoki, two signatures to be exact, and both of them seemed to be rapidly moving and clashing against one another and much more powerful then those Yoma he'd killed in the town.

Seemed as if he'd lucked out and found them sooner rather than later.

Making his way through a small junction in the trees he sees two figures standing next to each other both of them taking deep and rapid breathes trying to get as much air back into their lungs as they could.

They were both dressed in nearly skintight grey combat suit with a somewhat torn cape on each of them flowing in the light breeze. As for armor though Sebastian had to question its effectiveness since it only really covered their shoulders, forearms, shins and that strange skirt like piece. But Sebastian wasn't one to question simple things like armor design and swallowing any anxiousness he had be began to make his way out of the tree line and began to move towards them in a calm walking speed.

As he got closer he overheard part of the conversation that they had been having.

The one to his right with the much shorter hair smirked at the second much more graceful looking Claymore.

"I think I'm finally ready to say it Sophia. How I really feel about you." Sebastian immediately awkwardly stopped mid step at hearing that and was debating turning around and maybe coming back in an hour or two. Who was he to interrupt a tender moment.

The other Claymore dawns a small playful grin and sheathes her sword before stretching out her muscles and begins walking towards the other Claymore.

"Then by all means speak your mind Noel." She says honestly to the other.

Noel then stands up a bit straighter and confidently begins to speak her mind, "We've been though all kinds of things you and I. All the way from the training, to us being assigned numbers, to all the missions we've been on. Even that fateful day with Pricilla, and I think I can say with only truth and total confidence that I…I…"

Sebastian now unable to contain his own curiosity listens a bit closer as the longhaired Claymore drew closer to the other. "Go on." She says with a somewhat regal or elegant tone of voice.

Noel smirks then makes direct eye contact with the other woman and takes a deep breath.

"That I think you're by far the biggest cunt I've ever met in my entire life."

She says suddenly making the other Claymore deadpan at the hateful jab, and it left Sebastian laughing like a mimic.

Turning to the sound of the laughter the two Claymore look to one another with Noel smiling a rather Cheshire grin as they make their way to the knight who'd regained his composure by this point and once again had a face of seriousness under his mask.

"Glad someone found it funny." Noel says to him when they found themselves no more than six feet apart. The knight nodded and let out a chuckle and nodded. Sophia rolling her eyes just looks between the two of them shakes her head.

Sebastian then looks to them with a calm gaze, "You two could sense me couldn't you?"

Sophia nods to him while Noel speaks, "Yeah, it's not exactly our first encounter with a knight like you. So tell me though, what is a Black Knight doing here, shouldn't you be out there looking for Ornstein?"

This caused the knight to grow serious, "Well then seeing as you answered my first question already of whether you know of the Captain or other knights. I don't suppose you would happen to know where he is?"

They shake their heads, "No, and in all honesty he somewhat got us in this mess to begin with. But on the other hand he also did stop a monster, one that even though she'll never admit it would've killed Sophia and myself. But I digress. And as to your question, no we haven't seen him or Teresa in months, last time we did see them was roughly four months ago. By now they could be on the other side of island." Noel answers the knight who sighed at the answer.

"Damn. You wouldn't happen to remember where you met them?" They shake their heads. "Not really that memorable of a place, in fact it wasn't too far from here. But even then it was more of an accident for the most part. We stumbled on one of their sparring sessions since we were able to see some of the lightning Ornstein had been using."

Sebastian clenched his fist in anger at hearing that, "Seems as if I'm no closer to finding him. Damn it all." He says angrily before perking up and looking to the trees scanning them from left to right.

The two Claymores began to get an uneasy feeling in the pits of their stomachs as they too felt something unnatural coming from the tree line. As all of them drew their swords they follow Sebastian's line of sight as his gaze stopped on one tree in particular

Looking to it as well they narrowed their eyes as they saw a pair of eyes staring back at them, though what worried them was the fact that they weren't golden like Yoma, they were instead a bright and rather intimidating crimson in color.

They all gripped their swords tighter in their hands as the eyes shifted from one Claymore to the next then to the sole knight among them The eyes then narrow and seem to carry a much more malicious energy to them before disappearing into the shadows of the trees.

They all waited for a moment, but after extending their senses to the surrounding woods they felt that the presence had disappeared entirely.

After a few more tense moments the three of them put away their weapons and look to one another, "Looks like I'm not the only thing to have found you." He says simply to them making the two still tense warriors nod to him.

"It would appear so? Whatever that thing was, it will most likely come back. What is most concerning though is that we couldn't sense it until now." Sophia says honestly still a little spooked from the fact that something was able to get so close without any of them knowing it was there until now.

"So where do we go from here then?" Noel asks, her hand never leaving the handle of her blade. Sophia and her look to Sebastian and the knight let out a heavy sigh.

"Whatever that thing was it felt unnatural, even from my perspective. It would be best if we were to travel together." He says simply as if it were just the most common thing to do.

Sophia looks to her pseudo-partner and they share a bit of a wordless conversation between the two of them, "Fine, we'll go along with this, but only until we kill that thing. After that we go our separate ways, because the Organization still has a kill on sight order on our heads and traveling is not going to help our chances of survival when it comes to those spooks." Noel says looking the knight dead in the eyes with Sophia nodding in agreement.

The largest warrior of the three nods to the two of them, "Alright. Are there any supplies that you two require?" He asks wanting to cover his bases before they left.

They shake their heads and with that the three of them calmly walked out of the valley and began to head off into other parts looking for the Ornstein and company. But as they left they couldn't help but let their eyes wander into the trees, trying to find any trace of those mysterious red eyes.

 **With Ornstein and Company**

Clare nearly collapsed the moment she returned to the campfire with a small bundle of fruit in her arms, Ornstein and Teresa had sent her and Victor out to find food and secure the area in case any Yoma strayed a bit too close to the camp.

Since they'd worn each other out after a few rounds of yoki and miracle powered mock battles.

And now after returning she found the two of them asleep without a care in the world. Clare looked between the two of them and smiled at her little family, they'd saved her more than she cared to remember and now things only seemed to be getting better for all of them ever since Ornstein clashed with Pricilla a little over two years ago.

She looked around and saw that Victor wasn't anywhere to be seen at the moment and assumed he was still looking around trying make sure nothing was around to sneak up on them.

She then turned to Ornstein and noted that the knight had once again fallen asleep in his armor except the helm; this was really becoming a bad habit for him. She looked to his slightly longer scarlet colored hair then to his slightly scarred face and couldn't help but admit that he was a very handsome man and with that air of authority and power surrounding him she could see why Teresa seemed to be lightly obsessed with him.

Moving onto said woman, she fell asleep in her own combat gear as well and it looked like she'd fallen asleep after him judging from the fact that she was leaning against him with her head resting against his chest. She was lightly snoring, and with the small amount of noise coming from her Ornstein subconsciously brought an arm up around her and brought her closer to him and slightly higher up so that his chin now was resting on top of her head.

Clare couldn't help as a small giggle escaped her lips when Teresa smiled at the contact. It was actually quite pleasant watching the two sleep together much like an actual father and mother would. It made her smile just a bit wider thinking how fortunate she was to have been found by them. Since it seemed that with every day that passed the two of them just became increasingly interesting to the girl.

She knew they had secrets and a part of her wanted to know. Especally Ornstein, what with him being from another world and all.

And that brought a somewhat sad topic to the front of her mind. She may have noticed Teresa's own loneliness, but when she looked to Ornstein she saw a man who'd already come to terms with his own solitude, and that worried her. How long had he been alone to actually come to terms with it? When she asked both him and Teresa seemed to move away from the topic, she knew that he'd served a god before but what else had he done in Anor Londo?

' _Wait from what he makes it sound like Ornstein is really old, so it he…immortal?'_ Clare wonders in her head thinking about what all the Dragon Slayer had done before meeting them. She was however distracted from her thoughts when she saw a very strange object poking out just next to Ornstein's side.

Going up to it she looks around and slowly reaches out for it while looking to Ornstein to see if he waking up or not. Seeing that she was in he clear she hovered over it and grabbed hold, though the moment she did it felt as if another person had appeared in her head. Whispering something to her, ever so softly telling her crush it in her hand.

She opened her hand to look at the strange object and her eyes widened as looked at the semi cracked eyeball that was in the center of the orb. And she began to run her fingers over the edges and marveled at how smooth they seemed to be despite the fact that it was cracked on the sides.

Her eyes then seemed to gain a slight haze to them and complied with what the voice told her to do, she crushes the small orb in her hand and felt a small tug at the back of her mind as she just simple sat there and waited for something to happen.

She then looked around her and noticed that Victor had come back with his sword covered in a light layer of purple, "Clare what are doing?" He asks her as he made his way over to her and sat down next to her leaning against a tree.

Clare goes to open her mouth but no sound came out. Victor looks at her strangely and then looks down at her feet and sees a small pile of red. "Clare, what is that on the ground?"

Clare knowing that something was happening to her tries once again to say something to Victor, only she shouted this time. But like the first time not a sound came from her mouth.

Victor seeing her try to shout something knew something was very wrong with Clare and goes over to her, but to his horror the girl began to fade away into nothing. And that's when it hit him like a hammer; she was going to another world.

"Clare!" He shouts in panic waking both Ornstein and Teresa from their sleep as they quickly rush over to see that Clare was fading away into nothing.

And before they could even speak a word to grab her attention she disappeared entirely.

They all stare in horror for a moment as Ornstein looks to the ground next to where she had once stood and sees the small pile of red tinted dust and goes over to it and rubs it in between his fingers.

' _This is…oh dear.'_ He realizes when he felt that both his hands were currently empty. Looking over to Teresa he saw her asking Victor what he saw in a somewhat frantic manner.

"Teresa, I know what happened." He says getting both her and Victor's attention as he turned around and sat back against the tree.

"She's invaded another world. Just wait for a moment and she will return shortly." He says simply and almost laughed as Teresa turned a small-annoyed glare onto him, "How can you say that so calmly!? She just disappeared in front of us!"

Ornstein not saying a word back just sighs and waits.

Teresa having lost her patience goes over to him and glares full force at him, "Is there nothing we can do to get her back!?" He nods to her, "Nothing we do on our side is capable of bringing her back so as unfortunate as it may be we just have to wait for her."

Teresa was not having any of it and was about to shout again, but just as she was about to open her mouth again Clare reappeared as suddenly and she had disappeared and quickly fell to her knees with wide and frightened eyes.

Going over to her Ornstein embraces her with Teresa opposite of him. "It's alright Clare, you're safe." He says in a comforting tone of voice to the still frightened girl.

However when she started to calm down she began to cry and this began to worry the three warriors greatly, as she hasn't truly cried like this since Teresa's near death to Pricilla.

She looked between her three guardians and sucked down a sob that had been trying to force it's way out her throat. She then gripped onto Ornstein like her life depended on it and began to mumble something into his neck.

"There, there please calm down Clare. Now please tell me what happened?" He asked her in as soothing of a voice he could make.

She looked up and very quietly whispered so that only he could hear "I…I…died."

 **And Done!**

 **Well now that classes are over I can get into a groove of updates, hopefully.**

 **Anyway tell what you thought, please and Read and Review.**

 **Stay Cool**


	9. Evolution

I do not own Claymore or Dark Souls

"Speech"

' _Thought'_

 **"Dark Character Speech"**

 ** _'Dark Character Thoughts'_**

 **Chapter 9: Evolution**

The trio of warriors all looked to the girl in shock at what she had just said.

Teresa taking it the worst shook with anger and concern for her pseudo-daughter as she took the girl from Ornstein and gently held her against her buxom letting the girl relax and let out any pain or tears that she held within her.

Victor and Ornstein shared a look to one another and the Leo knight occasionally looked to her neck trying to find signs of curse on the girl, just to be sure.

They then turn their attention back onto the girl and wait for her to tell them what had happened while she was in another world and while it did take a bit more time Clare wiped her tears and started breathing normally once again, but still clinging onto both Teresa and Ornstein like lifelines.

"Take your time Clare, there is no rush just please try to describe where you went and what you saw." Ornstein calmly said to her.

The girl nodded and looked him in the eyes allowing her own soft brown to meet his fiery red, "After I faded away, I only saw black for…for what felt like years."

Ornstein leans in closer as does Victor since they both wish to hear about the encounter as much as possible, and not have Clare repeat anything for her own sake.

"But at the end I saw light, like the morning sun after a long night. And then I found myself emerging from the ground. And the first thing a saw was a full moon in the sky and a city."

 **Flashback**

Clare looked to herself after emerging from the ground and to her curiosity she seemed to be glowing red, a pure illuminant red that seemed to have soaked down to her very core.

But she didn't have time to ponder what the sudden change in both skin and clothing color as she was drawn to her surroundings the moment she became aware of them.

High in the night sky was the largest and most beautiful moon the young woman had ever seen in her entire life. It was a bright and pure white that seemed to give off as much light as the sun itself. And with that light she looked down onto a city that shined like the purest of silver.

The city itself was massive and seemed to stretch on and on for as far as she could look to either the left or the right. It reminder her of the holy city in her homeland, but on a much larger and grander scale. Seeing as the buildings dwarfed anything she'd ever seen or heard of being built on her island home.

She then looked down a bit and saw the large river that divided the small cliff she appeared on and the grand city. It was a strange body of water as it appeared wider than the city itself, but looked as shallow as a puddle.

But the more she looked on the more she began to realize that she was very far away from home, a home that she wanted to return to as soon as possible.

So she steeled herself and looked to the small dagger Victor had given her before they went off to look for food and began to follow a path that seemed to be carved into the mountain.

She walked on and on looking between the shining city across the river and mountain that to her seemed a bit, ominous.

But she quickly blocked that out of her mind as she came to a wide archway that had a long stone bridge built out of if leading to the city across the river.

She quickly checked around her, a bit suspicious as to why there would only be one path into the city considering how large it seemed to be. But since it was the only way in she swallowed any doubt or underlying fear she might've had and began to walk out across the bridge.

As she walked she took a bit more time to look down at the river she seemed to be walking across and marveled at the fact that it was in fact quite shallow. Dangerously shallow if she were to fall from her current height.

Approaching the end of the bridge she looked at a clear or almost invisible barrier that seemed to be separating her from the entrance to the city.

Wanting to know if it really was a barrier she reached out to touch it and immediately she felt as if the barrier was rejecting her. _'Well what now?'_ She asked herself.

However before any kind of solution could be drawn she froze at the sound of a roar coming from the other side of the bridge. Swallowing loudly the girl turns and widens her eyes in fear as the what a appeared to be a giant narrow jawed dog or bear with six glowing orange eyes and exposed ribs was running full speed with its mouth open ready to devour her in an instant.

She looks around her in terror as the beast draws ever closer, and in a fit of frenzied worry she looks over the edge of the bridge and hops off onto the small bit of protruding stone to the side on the edge of the city border.

Clinging on to it for dear life the girl began to shimmy across the edge, and just as she was beginning to create a bit of distance between her and the beast she heard a sound she was all too familiar with.

The crackling of lightning and smell of ozone that followed it, and it was coming from behind her where the beast was.

Looking back in fear the girl looked shocked at the beast that had reared up and from its mouth shot out a large discharge of bright yellow colored lightning.

Clare panicking at the oncoming doom lost her grip and fell from her place on the railing and began to fall off of the bridge onto the small number of rocks and into the shallow water below.

Clare raises her head out of the water on her hands and knees at this point and begins to cough blood into water as she felt what she was sure was a number of bruises forming on her sides are back from the fall.

But it seems as if luck was not her side today as the beast leapt off the bridge and began to roar at her once more. Only this time she wasn't able to move from her place in the water fast enough and wound up tripping as there were a number of water plants that ruined her footwork.

She turned in fear as the beast came closer and closer to her and tried to draw her dagger from its sheath. She would at least wound the damned monster before it ate her.

But perhaps all was not lost for her today.

"Well then, seems as if I'm to work off that soup now." She hears from behind her.

She turns and is met with the strange sight of a knight in armor that made him look strangely, like an onion?

She was about to call out to him but the man had already let loose a war cry and charged the beast before her.

Not really having a clue what was going on Clare watched on as the knight used a sword even larger than Victors to chop away at the beasts legs until it flipped over leaving its neck exposed for a brutal downward swing from the onion knight.

Clare was left speechless as he seemed to now just be humming a happy tune to himself as he walked right past her entirely, as if she didn't exist at all.

"Wait!" She called out making the knight stop in his tracks. She then ran as fast as she could through the water and stood in front of the fat looking knight.

"Thank you for saving me." She says kindly to the man before smiling as best she could.

Said man looked around in confusion as scratched his armored head for a bit in confusion.

"Hmm. Hmm. If didn't know any better I'd swore that someone called out. Perhaps I've had one too many toasts lately. Oh no matter. To the Capital." He says to himself quietly before walking off into the tower just past the water's edge.

Clare for her part just looked confused as to why the weird looking knight had ignored her. But just scoffed and looked to where he had come from rather than where he was headed.

She continued like this for sometime walking through a small sewer and past a small kitchen and into a large open room with a painting of a beautiful woman in elegant white robes at the end of the hall.

Looking upon the painting she couldn't help but think back to Teresa and some of the other Claymore that she had met in recent years. While most would consider them all beautiful, they were all built like warriors with nothing but speed, power, and efficiency in mind. The woman in the painting on the other hand looked much more voluptuous than any other woman that Clare had ever met.

And that was saying a lot seeing as more than a few women had tried to hit on Ornstein and Victor whenever they passed through towns to get more supplies.

Clare then began to look around the room a bit more and marveled at the furniture and small amounts of pottery that laid about the room. All of it was wonderfully made in their design and almost all of them seemed to have been lined with gold and silver.

So being the curious girl that she was Clare grabbed her knife and began to try and pry a piece of the precious metal off for her to take home. She knew that both Teresa and Ornstein were probably pissed at the fact she'd taken an item from said knight so she had to have something to take back to them.

So when she finally managed to break off a single chair leg the girl smiled to herself and then began to make her way around the half wall that housed the painting on it.

But on the other side Clare was greeted to a sight that made her gasp in shock as leaning against the wall unmoving and lifeless was a knight in shining silver armor.

She looked at the armor and saw that it was very similar in appearance to the kind that Victor used as well as the shield although this one was a bit smaller.

Getting closer the girl listened for breathing and felt a bit of sadness and relief in the fact that the knight had already passed on. She knew that Ornstein and Victor would need to hear about this. She then looked to the knight's sword just a few feet away from the corpse and briefly thought about taking it as a weapon, but something inside her just told her to leave it be.

And she'd learned to trust her gut in recent years with her training coming from both a former number one and a literal dragon slaying god. So she continued onward wherever this path was to take her.

Walking out once again into the cold Clare shivered and now held both her dagger and the chair leg she'd ripped off at each of her sides, just in case.

Up the path she walked past more corpses, only these were some of the strangest looking dogs that she'd ever come across. She chose very quickly to just move past them as they creped girl out more than almost any Yoma.

So once again the girl began to walk on through the somewhat ruined area passing through a large building surrounded by pottery and feeling much colder than any other place that she'd passed through. So much so that it felt as if the beginnings of frostbite were forming on her legs as she passed through the two story building.

And then she reached a grand looking cathedral like building standing atop a hill, with a curious wall of fog blocking her from seeing inside. As she approached it she heard the sounds of slow armored footsteps approaching from her left.

She turned around in curiosity and widened her eyes as she saw the figure that was making the noise.

They were tall almost standing up the impressive heights of Ornstein and Victor with streamline armor that flowed down their body all the way down all the way to their feet. Their shoulders, legs, and arms also seemed to be covered in this type of armor and atop their head looked to be a simple crown of fine cloth rather than armor and to Clare the whole set looked more ceremonial rather than battle ready, but then again Ornstein's armor was somewhat the same and from what she'd seen it more than lived up to his claims of surviving multiple wars with monsters and dragons. So she'd reserve judgment for later.

What caught her attention was the scythe it wielded in its hands. The weapon had quite a bit of length to it, it was pale blue in color, and appeared to have been chewed through at many points in the blade. But that did nothing to take away from the potential danger that the weapon held.

She then locks eyes with the newcomer and she narrows her own as they looked more like a corpse rather than a living being. Like their weapon they looked as if they had been chewed through by a multitude of things be it bugs or dogs she couldn't really tell from looking at the face as they seemed to be missing both eyes and both lips. They were ghostly pale and grey as if they had been dead for sometime now.

She looked between he scythe wielding corpse and then the fog wall that was in front of hers, and her choice became clear when she heard a low rumbling growl from the figure as it unleashed a wave of pure cold from its weapon as it seemed to now glow a bright blue to it as she quickly ran into the fog wall ever so slowly tried to hurry through.

However when she reached the other side she was greeted by something even more concerning.

On the opposite end of the room she saw three figures battling in the center of what she assumed was a large cathedral.

Two of them seemed to be fighting together against the third and seemed more human in stature when compared to some of the other things that had been seen around the place.

One of them wore a wide brimmed hat and more light weight leather like armor and used two identical short swords.

And the other wore nothing but pure grey robes, much to her surprise. But what shocked her even more so was the fact that the robed one seemed to be firing off what looked like arrows and other kinds of projectiles from what looked like a just a simple wooden staff.

The third figure though was the one to grab her attention. The third one was tall maybe even a bit taller than Ornstein at full height (6'8/ 203 cm) and they wore robes like the second one but these were of a much higher quality rather than the simple ones the other wore with layers of purple gold and ivory colored within. Their face was covered by mask that looked to have the same pattern and the scythe wielder outside the door and on their head sat a small crown of gold.

She then looked to the weapons they were using to fight off the other two. In their left hand was the smaller of the two blades with it glowing an ominous bright purple. From what Clare could see it was double edged and looked to be around the same length as Teresa or Victor's swords.

The right-handed one was much larger in nature and seemed to be as long as some people were tall, it was also double edged like the smaller one, but unlike the other one where its power was ominous this one seemed just sinister in nature. It glowed bright with the fire that danced across its edges and for some reason the fire itself felt…unnatural to Clare.

She then widens her eyes when she sees the larger robed figure lunge with incredible speed at the one wielding the staff as they let out a horrible scream of pain as they are impaled through the gut by the blade.

They are then flung across the room and she watches haplessly as they seem to struggle and try to cling to life for a few moments before they fade away like dust.

She then watches as the first sword wielding one disappears as well and turns her attention to the remaining one.

The last figure in the large room turns their attention to her and tilts their head in what she assumes is curiosity, **"Strange, you are still here?"** They call out to her in a deep masculine voice.

She nods her head as the figure then begins to walk towards her and places both of their swords on his back. **"And pray tell, how is it that a dark spirit such as yourself is able to remain without kindled ash to seek? And to invade at such a young age, my the Fingers must be growing desperate?"** She hears in that deep voice again.

She shakes her head as she now found herself looking up at his impressive and intimidating height. "N-No I didn't mean to come here, it was an accident I swear. And I'm no f-finger." She answers back to him still somewhat afraid that he will draw a blade on her.

" **Not a Finger? Then you are without a covenant, that has to be since you bear no sighs of being a member of the faithful, those dogs of the swap, or those fools in the Ringed City. Then that begs the question, why are you still here even with the Ash gone?"** He then begins to walk back to the center of the room and Clare slowly follows behind him.

" **You now have my curiosity young one, tell me of where do you hail from?"** He asks gesturing to one of the remaining bleachers that weren't destroyed in the battle.

"Can you help me get home?" Clare asks with bits of both hope and fear leaking into her voice, to which he nods not even really looking at her, "O-Ok then, island I hail from has no name at least that I know of. I came here after I….after stole a trinket from my father."

The taller of the two tilts his head at the girl, **"A trinket you say? I think you mean to say that you used a red eye? Your father must a cruel or foolish man to invade when he's a family to watch over. Tell me of him."** The robed man says to Clare.

Clare at hearing of her father figure being called cruel and foolish jumped to his defense, "He is not cruel! He's been nothing but kind and gentle to both my mother and me. He even saved us from monsters, he's strong, so strong that he's killed gods!" Clare says sternly in defense of Ornstein.

" **Killed gods? That is quite the claim to make child, surly you don't believe that do you? It would be a shame for a child like yourself to be so disappointed later in life."** The sword wielding man says coming closer to Clare with a goblet in his hands.

"I know he's as strong as he says," Clare pauses for a moment before thinking about Ornstein and what the knight had become to her. "When I first met him he scared me, his armor made him look like some kind of knight from a fairytale. One that seemed too good to be true, but then he saved me and he kept my mother and me safe, even when it meant putting himself in danger. But even then, every time I saw him fight something inside me told me that he wouldn't lose because he couldn't lose. That he was and still is too strong to fail." Clare says with a large grin looking to the robed figure that stood a few feet away calmly swirling whatever liquid was within the goblet.

" **My, my the love and devotion of a child truly is a wondrous thing. All right then say I believe you and that your father is in fact strong enough to kill gods. Why would he hold onto an item such as the red eye?"**

Clare shifts a bit in her seat, "He and my mother were hunting something, I think they called them Darkwraiths." She answered back a little unsure as to why he would ask such a question.

" **Darkwraiths? Perhaps I owe you an apology child? Your father is stronger than I first thought to hunt down knights of New Londo is no small feet. Tell me of where does your father hail?"** The robed man asks in a curious tone.

"He hails from Anor Londo, or at least that's what he told us. Do you know of the place?" She asks hope lingering in her voice. The man nods his head, **"I know of the place, the city of the gods they called it. If your father does hails from there then he must be one of the rather famous knights, tell me what is his name?"**

Clare smiles thinking she was close to getting home now for sure. "His name is Ornstein, Dragon Slayer Ornstein. Do you know of him?"

The robed figure stops in their tracks as soon as Clare said his name and he slowly turned towards her, **"Dragon Slayer Ornstein, captain of the Four Knights? Well then perhaps I'll have to visit your home for myself."** He says in a tone that made Clare break in a cold sweat from the underlying tone of maliciousness.

She turned to leave no longer feeling safe in this thing's presence, but before she could even take a step the figure moved in front of her and lifted her up by the throat.

" **I did not say you could leave just yet child. For I now have a task for you, when you get home give your father a message for me if you would. Can you do that?"** They ask in a tone of arrogance and mockery as Clare started to choke. **"Tell your father that Anor Londo is dead, every sentinel, every knight, and every squire. From the Darkmoon all the way down to the lowest of servants. And now that the city of gods is gone soon we will do the same to his new world. Tell him that child. Tell him that a new Pontiff rules his city, that a new Lord sits upon the throne, and that the reign of gods has been forever destroyed."**

He then snapped Clare's neck and casually dropped her corpse to the cold stone floor as he then made his way to the center of his chapel. All the while thoughts of conquest spun in his mind, with a sinister smile hidden under his veil.

 **Flashback End**

As Clare finished the story of what she saw her two guardians had very different emotions coursing through them.

Teresa was beyond furious, for someone to be so arrogant, so callous in the death of a child, **her** child, and the threatening of both her home and Ornstein she seemed to only see red for a moment before she was brought out of her thoughts from the sound of Clare sniffling.

Ornstein though switched between horror and pure furry for what seemed like hours to the knight. His home, his people, everyone and everything he knew and fought to protect, gone.

Gone because he wasn't there to save it.

 **To the East**

Sebastian and his two new traveling partners were making their way west to meet up with his captain. But no matter what the three of them just couldn't get the thought of those red eyes glaring out at them from the tree line.

Though what they were he had no idea. And when he thought about what it could have been he draws blank when he remembers the sheer number of things that it could've been from his homeland.

And then again perhaps it was some new kind of monster from this island that neither he nor his Claymore companions knew about.

"Sebastian have you any idea where we're even supposed to be going in order to find Ornstein and Teresa?" Sophia asks the one armed knight.

Said knight shook his head, "I'm simply trusting my instincts to guide me." He says honestly making the two women roll their eyes at the rather stupid strategy of tracking.

"Well it's either we find them or that thing from the valley finds us first. And I for one would rather just kill that red-eyed bastard and be done with all of this. I'm growing tired of running from everything." Noel says bluntly reminding the other two of the little agreement that they had struck back in the valley.

Kill or recover those were their options, but Sebastian would much rather just continue on and find his captain and company, he still had grave news to deliver after all.

' _Very grave.'_ He thinks looking to where his shield arm used to be and remembering the being that had robbed him of his appendage.

"So Sebastian, how many other knights are out there?" Sophia asks curiously not wanting to meet any other knight by accident like they had first encountered Ornstein and Victor.

The single armed knight paused and inhaled slowly, "Five, there are only five of us left."

Noel looks at him and for a moment before meeting the eyes of her partner and they shrug, "Who are the other two besides you, Victor, and Ornstein?" The longer haired warrior asks.

The one-armed knight smirks, "Consider yourselves lucky not to have met Reden and Meinen. Reden would likely talk you into a coma once you get him in a good mood. And Meinen, well if I were to describe him I would call him the most sophisticated brute of Anor Londo." He says fondly in remembrance of the glaive and axe users.

The other two sword wielders found themselves picturing what people like that would look like and also found themselves comparing them to other members of their own generation of warriors.

And for a few second the two warriors found themselves smiling at some more fond memories involving them and other warriors in their younger years, before they'd all become accustomed to the life of killing monsters.

Afterwards the party of three just continued to keep vigilance while making their way through the open part of the forest, letting rays of sunlight warm them through the trees.

That is until the familiar smell of blood began to quickly wash over the area putting all of them on guard.

Noel and Sophia looked to one another and nodded as they both drew their swords and slowly made their way forward with the remaining Black Knight guarding their rear with his sword on his back and his helm now fitting snug on his head.

As they moved forward none of them said a word as they walked trying to keep one eye in front and one eye on the tree line for any threat. What worried them though was the lack of presence, no yoki, no souls, absolutely nothing. Just like in the valley.

They follow the trail and come into a field where there looked to be more than four dozen bodies left laying about scattered all over the place. And all of them were yoma of varying sizes and states.

The three warriors looked around in shock at the ways some of them had been killed, while the usual methods of death were present like decapitations, bisecting, or mass loss of limbs. There were some that looked as if all life was drained from their bodies and others who had wounds that looked as if they were killed with bare hands.

All was quiet as they looked for any sign of the one or ones who created the carnage. At least until the sound of clapping came ringing through the clearing, a slow rhythmic, almost mocking clap.

The three sword users look to the trees and were finally able to see who had done the deed.

Another Claymore walked through the tree line with her sword still in its sheath on her back in the usual attire. She stood a little taller than both Sophia and Noel at 5'9 (175cm) and had her hair cut almost to the scalp on the sides of her head and put the middle in a short ponytail that only made it to the base of her neck. While she had slightly darker skin than the usual warrior there was nothing else that particularly stood out.

At least until they looked at her eyes. And they were more than enough reason to be wary, as while the right eye was pure silver as one would expect of a warrior the Organization creates and the left eye was a shining and alarming shade of crimson.

Sebastian had a bad feeling deep in his gut about that eye, it gave him a very real sense of familiarity. And that was never a good thing when one spent a few hundred years in the service of Anor Londo.

Noel and Sophia clenched their weapons a bit tighter once the other woman got into frame of view but it didn't end there as two more silhouettes began to emerge from the forest.

And both of them were also warriors. To the lone male knight, the coming battle had just become a bit more complicated.

The first of the new two looked very much like a woman who had just entered her late teen years and as such retained a youthful appearance to her. As she had her hair in a long set of pigtails and stood a good bit shorter than the first at around 5'2 (157.5cm). And unlike the first she did not have a red eye, she instead had large streaks of pitch-black coloring running through each of her pigtails.

The third warrior seemed to strike a perfect center place for height between the two others as she held a respectable standing of 5'5 (165cm) yet she had a rather large amount of muscle tone showing on both her arms and legs. Enough to where Sebastian was thinking of already claiming her as his opponent.

As for hair and otherwise distinct and odd features her hair was allowed to flow almost to the bottom of her back and like the second had long streaks of black hair along the sides.

After scanning the three newcomers Noel and Sophia smirk, "We figured you'd be the one they sent to kill us Elda. But I've got to say the eye is new, where'd you get it?" Noel asks playfully trying to burry her gut feeling of unease.

The duel eyed warrior smirks, "This was a gift from The Organization, a reward if you would for remaining loyal. Something you two have no concept of." The now identified Elda says proudly.

The lone knight of the group rolls his shoulder and gets the attention of the three new comers.

The smallest one with the pigtails shows clear interest and almost ogles him, "My oh my aren't you a big boy! Hopefully this little body of mine can handle all of you." She says licking her lips and drawing her sword.

"Shut it Morgan we came for his life not so you can take him to bed." Elda says coolly to her subordinate making the shorter of the two grin and lock eyes with the two rogues.

"Then who dies first? The brutish Sophia, Noel the monkey, or tall dark and handsome?" Morgan says wiggling her eyebrows at the knight making him shake his head at her attitude. Anyone with bedroom eyes before a fight is either stupid or incredibly powerful.

The third one though steps forward, "He is mine." She says without a single sign that she would be backing down from her claim.

The other two each acknowledge her with Elda nodding and removing her own blade, and Morgan smirking and flexing her own arms and pointing her blade at Noel.

"Well if Ruth is to have the man all to herself then I suppose I'll take on the monkey." She says before leaping at the Noel in a burst of speed knocking the shorter haired woman back into the forest where they just came from.

Noel though quickly recovered and back flipped to soften her landing. Now while she was still confident in her ability, Morgan was different now, something had changed and that eye Elda had and the black hair on both her and Ruth were proof of tampering.  
Which meant that the bastard who created them was beginning to branch out in his work, which just sounded fantastic for everyone.

"So Morgan do you really think that you can kill me? Come on now last time I spared against you and the number seven, what makes you think you can kill me now? Wait don't tell me they moved you up in rank ever since the top five left. That's rich the Hybrid Whore getting moved up to the top five!" She says laughing at the shorter opponent.

Said opponent though just smirks, "Nope, I haven't moved in rank at all since you and the other coward ran off after your failure. I'm still number nine, Ruth is still number twelve and Elda is still number six."

Noel shrugs and lowers her stance, "Guess that means they won't miss you. Seeing as you still can't move up in rank."

There was a loud crash and bang of metal against metal in the distance and Morgan looks to her still holding a smirk, "Maybe, but I think with your head it might be time for a promotion."

The two then charge and lock blades and immediately Noel felt a real difference between the Morgan that she had fought once upon a time and the little minx now.

She was stronger, much stronger and the more they clashed the more Noel could see it. An unfamiliar darkness deep within those silver eyes, and the very thought sent a shiver up her spine.

Breaking away the former number five goes low with a sweep and like she expected the shorter warrior jumps into the air to avoid it giving Noel room to use her incredible acrobatics to handspring and leap behind her after pushing a bit of yoki into her arms for increased strength.

Morgan though follows her the whole way and deciding to counter rather than guard clashes with the slightly older warrior and breaks to the side with her feet still firmly planted on the ground and goes for her ribs with a thrust.

Noel manages to bring her legs down and kicks the blade away on the flat side with her metal greaves. And with a bit of recovered balance lands a brutal head shot on the shorter warrior with her left hand making her recoil in pain and skid against the dirt tearing chunks of it along with her.

The girl looks up with pure malice in her eyes, "Whore. That's all any of you rotten little cunts have called me. The Hybrid Whore, she who spreads her legs for any man willing to giver her a look. Well forgive me oh noble one for trying to remind myself that I'm still partly human. What's the best you could do? Well enough this whore is about to beat you till all that's left is a bloody smear on the ground! I say that it's payback time you stuck up bitch!" She says before her eyes bleed gold as her yoki exploded from her.

Noel rolled her eyes, she understood partially what the girl was talking about, despite the best efforts of the Organization some warriors try to maintain as much humanity as they possibly can, even if that means delving into rather risqué habits.

The alternative was to be an emotionless doll, and almost everyone agreed that becoming one of those was a fate worse than death in most cases.

But still the problem wasn't her little habit of bedding men between jobs, the problem now was that Morgan was trying to take her head.

So deciding to end this quickly Noel also flared yoki into her own system, "Alright then Morgan if you truly want to die. I'll gladly oblige you."

They then rush once again only with golden yellow eyes rather than pale silver and the moment their swords met the difference could be seen and felt. As before sparks and loud clangs came from the blades before, now literal shockwaves were formed after every clash of steel.

Noel was right now giving it her all using her agility to out maneuver and land glancing blows on the shorter fighter. A small cut here, a glancing thrust here, and a little scrape in there as well.

But she knew with both of them already using this much yoki that small injuries like those were simple child's play to heal from. She needed something that would keep her down at least long enough for her to remove Morgan's head and regroup with Sebastian and Sophia.

Going in for a more risky attack Noel thrusts her blade towards Morgan's center and watched as the woman sided stepped and brought her sword across in a horizontal slicing motion intent of cutting her at the stomach.

Seeing this and almost scuffing on the inside at the easy to predict attack the former warrior ducks below and springs up using her own blade as placeholder and spinning around to land a kick that would hopefully disorientate Morgan.

However the smaller fighter was quickly turned around and in her guard faster than she remembered her being able to move.

But that would have to wait as the pigtailed woman landed a punch with enough force to crack Noel's jaw and semi burry her in the ground. But Morgan wasn't done just yet as she grabbed a hold of Noel by the back of her neck as violently tossed her through a set of trees.

"Oh now that felt good." She says proud of her handy work.

Noel lifting herself up from the ground pushes a fair bit of her yoki into recovering from the head injuries that the other warrior had inflicted.

' _Alright then, so far it's safe to say that she has gotten much stronger since the last time we fought. I guess she and the others are much more of a threat than I thought. Which means that Sophia and Sebastian are having a hell of a time then.'_ She thinks to herself before rolling her neck and getting a loud crack from her bones.

Standing to her full height Noel narrows her eyes and grips her sword a tad bit tighter this time around, she steadies her footing and for a moment felt the veins in her legs pulse with both a sensation of pain and power.

Morgan meanwhile simply smirked and felt her own yoki rise as well wanting to match Noel as closely as she could.

But to her surprise Noel blew the ground out from under her as she burst her yoki once again to her legs before grinding her teeth and pushing all of it evenly over her body when she met Morgan blade first.

Morgan who was definitely surprised by the leap, was immediately on the defensive as Noel became more and more relentless in her attacks trying to shatter her guard. As the fight began to drag on a bit more the smaller warrior began to lose more and more of her footing as Noel was beginning to slightly augment her wrist, elbows, and shoulders with yoki allowing for them to twist far past their normal limits. Turning every strike into a small parry and for every thrust to become a drilling attack with monstrous consequences should one attack land.

' _Even now with time, preparation, and letting that monster of man operate on me I'm still losing to this monkey! I refuse to go back a failure!'_ The longhaired warrior screams in her mind as unnoticed to Noel the black in her hair began to spread across the rest of her head.

Morgan was blasted out her inner thoughts as Noel finally managed to twist one of her counters and left her wide open for an attack.

The taller woman spun on her heel delivering a kick to the side and using her opponent as a board spun her higher into the air and kicked once again to the top of her head. Noel felt herself smirk when she saw the brief level of fear in Morgan's eyes as her sword came down closer and closer to splitting her head in half.

However a rush of power made the hair on the back of Noel's neck stand up. It wasn't the greatest concern for her though as she was getting used to seeing power much greater than her own and holding a brave face in spite of that.

She couldn't help but recall the beatings that both Teresa and Ornstein had given her and the overwhelming yoki that was Pricilla. But this was something different, not yoki but something far darker in nature.

She watched as one of Morgan's hands left her blade and blocked her own attack with a glowing and ominous red shield that just appeared out of her hand.

' _Since when did the Organization teach warriors to use magic!?'_ She screams in her mind as she watched Morgan's fear fade into near joy as an opportunity was presented to the shorter warrior on a silver platter.

Recoiling in mid air Noel was unable to properly block the counter strike that cut her shoulder nearly to the bone and sent her sailing back into a tree.

Looking up Noel grimaced as the black marks in hair seemed to have spread to a little over half of her entire head with the scalp being black and leading down before shifting into silver.

Morgan sighs and looks up to lock eyes with Noel showing her that her left eye has changed as well from silver to scarlet making her half warrior and half something else.

Breathing deeply Morgan seems to have shifted into an eerie calm. And most alarming to Noel was the fact that she almost held no presence to her yoki senses, which should be impossible as the other eye was still gold proving that she was still using a fair amount of her own yoki.

"You like it? At first I was in question about darker colors on us warriors, but I think we've all grown to like a bit of black and red. Now then, what say I show you what evolution looks like up close?" She says in a low voice.

Everything seemed off as Morgan crouched and leapt with both grace and power in her attack. And even as Noel was feinting with her sole arm left the shorthaired warrior was beyond anxious about this new power that seemed to erase Morgan's signature from the map.

It shouldn't be possible she thought in her head but somehow the Organization had found a way to do the impossible and merge their own warriors with something entirely new. That thought alone was enough for Noel to almost shiver in her armor as that meant not just these three but entire generations are going be much stranger and even more terrifying.

But back to the battle Noel was now fighting much more defensively as her shoulder was still healing and was only allowing herself to use counters and feints to try and land glancing blows or create opportunities for a perfect attack on the upgraded warrior.

Morgan though held either a small creepy smile or a neutral expression with changed every so often when she scores a glancing attack on the rogue.

"What happen to that enthusiasm from earlier Noel? You were going to kill me right? Well show me what a monkey can do when put in a corner!" She says activating her new glowing red shield and deflecting a thrust from Noel. From there the new form of hybrid swung with her sword with enough strength to shatter boulders and break Noel's ribs when she brought the guard of her sword around to block, but found her own handle smashing into her torso.

The shorter haired warrior coughed a bit of blood and was completely unprepared as the same fist that created the shied came swinging at her and breaking her nose and smashing her into the ground.

Morgan looked down on the now struggling warrior and scuffed, "To think I actually once thought you were better than this. You're nothing more than a monkey doing flips for food. Better to put you out of your misery now." She says bending over to pick up the other warrior by the hair.

But before she could Noel flipped over her using some of her last remaining strength and snapped Morgan's sword arm at the shoulder over her back.

Breathing heavily and desperately Noel drops for her sword, but Morgan had already turned and grabbed her face in a vice like grip with her unbroken arm. "Dirty little monkey, trying to use every bit you have to cling to your pathetic life. You should feel honored though, your strength will not be in vein. I promise to put it to good use."

She then saw the hand turn from a dark red into a vibrate pink and white and quickly began to feel as if her very soul was being drained from her body.

She watched in a panic as her strength began to drain from her body and into the hand of her opponent. To her time seemed to have slowed down as she could do virtually nothing as Morgan was quickly draining what little power she had left.

But Noel in an act of pure desperation put all of her remaining yoki into her jaw and bit down as hard as she could even drawing blood from her attacker's hand.

Morgan though simply looked annoyed at the attempt to get her to let go and quickly punched her in the gut with her free hand before dropping Noel to the forest floor. "Pathetic, you can't even die with dignity."

Morgan goes in to grab hold of her and finish killing her off when Noel's hand shot up and rammed a small rock into Morgan's eye, blinding the woman and stunning her.

Screaming in pain at the loss of her eye Morgan turns in rage to Noel, only to see the edge of blade coming ever so closely to her remaining eye.

And afterwards there was a wet squelch and a soft thud of something hitting the ground. "I may not die with dignity, but at least I did not die today."

Noel said to the now dead hybrid with a small victorious smile on her face, but that smile didn't last long as she was now nearly dead on her feet. But she would take a victory wherever she could find one. Though she wasn't above admitting luck was the only reason she is still alive.

Picking up her sword and trying to put herself back together she slowly and with a slight wince with every step made her way back to the opening where they first encountered the team of three hunters.

But when she got there all she found were two corpses one being Ruth who looked completely split in half and missing one of her hands, and the other being a headless corpse of what she hoped was Elda.

Hearing footsteps she turned to see a blood-soaked Sebastian and his armor slightly dented, but no Sophia in sight.

They lock eyes for a moment her silver staring into his bright and fiery orange, and he slowly shook his head confirming her fears.

Sophia didn't make it.

"I take it then that Elda is dead as well?" She asks hoping that the knight had at least finished her off.

Once again the knight shakes his head, "No. She escaped, with Sophia's head. She will come back though, Darkwraiths always do." He says with a bit of malice in his heart at the mention of the name.

Noel looks to her now dead friend and clenches her fists in anger, Elda always one of the colder members of their generation never caring for anything other than the hunt and the challenge. But at the same time she was a devious one always playing on the fact that she was in a position of better standing with the Elders, it was almost like playing politics with her.

"Until then we need to move soon, if more of them come you're in no shape to fight. We need to find the captain as soon as possible." He says with a tone of seriousness and urgency in his voice.

She stared at him blankly and said nothing for a few moments, "We need to at least burry Sophia. She deserves that much at least." She says finally as the two of them get to work digging a grave for her fallen friend.

They plant her sword at the grave sight and Sebastian lowers his head in respect as Noel only continues to stare at the sword that marked her friend and rival's final resting place.

It was quiet for a moment as they stood there slightly until Noel spoke, "What happened after Morgan attacked me?"

The Black Knight looked down and sighed, "After you disappeared Ruth separated me from Sophia. And Elda attacked her."

 **Flashback**

Ruth disappeared immediately after Morgan and appeared right in front of the knight with her sword in place to cut him from hip to hip.

But the knight quickly brought his greatsword down to block and with the two strengths colliding the sound was enough to be heard from all around the forest.  
They break away and the two lock eyes before Ruth leapt into the air again trying to reach the knights neck with her own blade only to have him shoulder charge her and block the sword with the shoulder guards of his armor.

"For a man missing a quarter of his limbs, you do not let that slow you down. Quite impressive." She says in an observant and monotone voice to the knight.

The taller fighter rolls his neck and lets out a breath from underneath his helm, and unknown to Ruth began to look to the bodies of the slain yoma scattered around the forest floor.

He then goes on the attack bringing his sword around in a mighty horizontal swing before kicking one of the discarded limbs into Ruth's peripheral vision making her eye leave his blade for a spilt second, plenty of time for him to use the weight of his first swing to shift into a large and mighty thrust attack.

Seeing the blade come at her again Ruth brings her own blade around to block the thrust and when they met and broke off the warrior grit her teeth as she felt her arms slightly shaking from the pure power behind the attack.

Seems as if with even just one arm the knight still outclassed her in strength.

Deciding to continue onwards the warrior rushes him trying to use the weight and size of his sword against him. And when he brought it down as a vertical attack the woman instead of dodging to the side rolled under it and was uncomfortably close for the both of them.

Coming up she realized that she didn't have enough room to deal damage with her weapon without the knight recovering and getting distance. So instead she channeled a bit of yoki into her arms and delivered two brutal blows to the knight's guts making him slightly rise off his feet a bit from the force.

Recovering as quickly as he could Sebastian brings his knee up in order to get her to move back and let him recover a bit of breath. And for the most part it worked, but Ruth was able to block it and with her yoki coursing through her arm she was able to take the pain and stop her arm from shaking.

Spitting through the middle of his helm Sebastian get himself ready once again and rests his sword on his shoulder before running in shoulder first with his sword ready to swipe.

Ruth on the other hand was fully prepared to take advantage of her opponent's larger weapon in order to have him overextend and leave himself vulnerable.

But as he approached the woman saw that he wasn't going to throw the first blow and reasoned that he was waiting to do the same thing to her and use a strategy of counters to win the fight.

So the two simply ran at each and it was Ruth who caved first in the small battle of patience and brought her sword down in a diagonal strike at the side of his armor. Sebastian guarded by twisting his body and using his sword to block while it was still resting on his shoulder, catching the blade and letting him pivot around to land a metal elbow to the woman's face and knocking her around a bit.

From there he had free range to swing and his sword and slam the flat end of the blade onto her shoulder getting a loud crack from the appendage and leaving Ruth open for a revenge kick to the stomach.

Sebastian watched as the woman sailed through the air and crashed through multiple trees. And after hearing the loud smack that resonated from her frame hitting a tree, he couldn't help but let a small smirk crawl onto his lips.

"You are indeed strong." Ruth says rising from the floor and resetting her shoulder with yoki.

Sebastian did nothing but hold eye contact as he felt the woman's yoki begin to quickly rise until small veins began to bulge on her face and other parts of her exposed skin while her eyes turned from silver to gold. "It seems that the Elders were right to fear the Knights in Black. Good I wouldn't want my talents to go to waste." She said before coming straight at Sebastian with more than double the speed.

Though to the knight it still wasn't really enough for him to become concerned.

Spreading his legs for a sturdier base the knight sighs and puts all of his strength into a swing and watches almost in slow motion as Ruth's semi airborne form raised her blade to block.

Before being quickly overwhelmed and being slammed into the ground like a comet smashing into the earth.

Not giving her time to recover the knight closes the gap and tries to impale her and finish the fight right there. But Ruth was able to get her sword up was able to deflect the blade while feeling one of her arms buckle under the pure strength that the man possessed. So going with plan B Sebastian lets go of the blade and puts his hand directly against her chest and begins casting a miracle.

Feeling power building in his hand Ruth tries to bring her blade around only to have the wind knocked out of her, break a rib, and find herself buried even deeper in the ground with the knight jumping into the air his sword once again poised to impale.

Reacting quickly and surging her power the girl was able to it to shake the ground a bit and break free roll to the side letting the knight crash into the earth and narrowly miss taking her life.

Going quickly to counter the now slightly stuck knight Ruth slashes at his back, but found that she was repelled by a sudden shockwave from the knights form.

Snarling at the knight she widened her eyes when she realized that the force also freed his weapon and allowed him to get back on his feet.

But she was determined to land some lasting damage and went low again using her yoki-enhanced speed trying to get behind the knight. And for the most part when she reappeared Sebastian wasn't able to really counter only being able somewhat put his sword in front of him and get her to slip the blade down trying to cut his wrist in order to disarm him.

Seeing the danger the knight quickly casts another forcer miracle and watches as the woman is once again blown back from an unexpected force and left open for him to finish off.

Twisting his hips and putting more power into the swing the knight turns on the stunned woman and fully prepares to go after Sophia and Elda after he finished with this one.

But as his sword was about to make contact a very familiar power emerged from within Ruth, as the black of her hair began to spread and from her free hand sprouted a transparent glowing red shield.

Though the shield wasn't enough to completely stop the attack the knight still followed through and sent her once again flying backwards, only to frown as he sees her gracefully flip back onto her feet.

"Perhaps I should've just started with this. I apologize for wasting your time, but now we must finish this." She says putting the shield in front of her with her sword poised to strike just behind it.

Sebastian said nothing and just glared at the cursed magic coming from her hand. There was no mistaking it, the Darkhand.

He knew how to end this and he planned to end it within three moves.

Ruth leapt at him with her hand leading as a way to draw out his attack, to which he played her game for a moment swinging a standard slash of the greatsword.

Next she went low and tried to pierce him in the ribs trying to get at the weaker points of his armor. He quickly leans back and brings his sword back around and slightly parries the attack leaving just her shield to block.

And knowing just how much it took to break the Darkhand Sebastian built up additional power from his soul and performed a full rotation to get maximum strength into a single strike.

Knowing he was going for an overhead Ruth pulls up more of her inner power and raises her shield to block.

The greatsword comes down and makes initial contact sending a burst of magic from both forces into the air. Before quickly breaking Ruth's wrist under the pressure and dispersing the shield allowing the rest of the swing to continue almost unhindered, cutting through her wrist where the shield used to be and then bisecting the hybrid in half from the shoulder to opposite hip. The sword then continued after cleaving its way through armor and flesh creating a fairly large scar in the ground.

Letting his breathing slow he looks up to try and find Sophia but to his worry she was nowhere in sight. Moving and trying to find her signature Sebastian begins to listen for any sign of life in the forest, and what he heard did not help his worry.

Moving as fast as he could he came upon the sight of Sophia being held up by her throat by Elda who was currently sapping every once of strength that former number four had.

Appearing behind Elda with his blade already raised to take her head off, he was immediately on guard when he saw that Elda had already met his eyes and was smirking at him.

He didn't have much time to think about that though as she sent a kick that actually dented his armor and made go crashing through almost four full grown trees.

When he looks up he saw that dual eyed witch holding Sophia's head in her free hand. "Now, now dear knight I believe enough blood has been spilt today. So I should say this is goodbye for now. But don't worry you'll be seeing us later. After all an arm just isn't enough sometimes…." She didn't have chance to finish her sentence as Sebastian was once again on top of her.

But to his shock the woman was able to block his attack, with what looked like minimal effort. And for a moment he could see in her eyes both gold and red ones that she was debating fighting him as well. But he sees her hesitate and she pushes back and forces him to break off, but still holds that smirk.

"Well that was rude, to interrupt someone while they were talking. That just tells of poor manners. But as I was saying I must be going now." She says walking away with Sebastian in both shock and rage at the casual dismissal of him.

He takes a step, but something held him back.

Could he kill her?

Was she bluffing and buying time to recover? Or was she simply bored, and in turn just giving him a chance to live for a few more days?

He didn't know, and that alone stopped him from moving any further.

 **Flashback End**

Noel looked on at the grave as Sebastian finished giving his part.

The fact that Elda has gotten this strong to actually kill Sophia and even hold her own enough to make Sebastian hesitate was terrifying to the shorthaired warrior. Terrifying in part because she knew that of the three she was the weakest link in that chain.

She had just barely survived her own fight, while Sebastian was able to finish his without too much difficulty. And for all she knew Elda left only because she truly didn't want to fight them, she probably could've killed the two of them easy enough.

So it was here that she knew they needed to find Teresa and Ornstein, now more than ever.

"At least I know who cut off your arm now." Noel says knowing the two of them had a common goal as for whom they had to kill.

Sebastian shakes his head, "It wasn't Elda."

Hearing that made Noel pale a bit in thought. Besides Ornstein, Teresa and Pricilla who were all on other worlds with how powerful they were compared to everyone else. She could say that with how easy he seemed to have handled an evolved warrior he held a place in the top five most powerful people she's ever met.

"Then who was it?" She asks equal parts curious and nervous.

He thinks back for a moment and feels a phantom pain crawl up where his arm used to connect to his shoulder, cold just pure cold.

"There were two of them. One you might know as the Witch of the West." He says making Noel's heart drop in her chest.

"And the other was a knight, one I've never seen before. But he had both a weapon and a soul colder than ice. He was the one who took my arm, but in return I took his heart." He says bitterly before walking away leaving Noel alone to think about what she had learned. And what they had to do next.

 **Far to the North**

A cold wind seemed to be brewing in the mountains that made the northern region of the island. A wind that seemed to drop in temperature for some reason in the past few days, strange even for these parts as they were always cold but never this cold.

A lone figure was standing atop the mountain embracing the wind as it bit at his exposed features. He sometimes came here to enjoy listening to the wind. It always reminded him of the fact that he was indeed free, free from the clutches of old fools.

But today he was out for a different reason today. Someone had entered his domain, someone who was not wanted or welcome.

The wind seemed to quiet down and allowed him to listen ever so closely and that was when he heard it.

A howl.

Somewhere in these mountains someone had just unleashed their dog of war. And that was something the Man of the North would absolutely not tolerate.

It seems as if war had come to the north.

 **And Done!**

 **Well thank God I got this finished I went back and tried to rewrite a few things in the fight between Morgan and Noel.**

 **Well it may have been longer than a year, but this story isn't dead yet. Here's to keeping it going.**

 **And if y'all would please Read and Review it always helps the story.**

 **Stay Cool**


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